Soulspark
by Gin-Ex-Machina
Summary: With a wish and determination in his heart, Guts sets out to be the equal he wishes to be to his friend. But when the former legendary soldier bumps into a prodigal blacksmith, his petite assistant and a rookie city guard in a nation far from his own, he finds out that certain demons are inescapable, especially if they are bound to a contract.. [Berserk/The Sacred Blacksmith Xover]
1. Pilot - Departure

_**Author Notes**_

**I do not own Berserk and The Sacred Blacksmith in any way shape or form, and all the rights belong to the original owners. I, Gin-Ex-Machina, am in no way trying to make financial profit from these characters in my fanfic. Please support the official release. Yada yada yada...**

So yeah, Berserk a fandom that's way too under appreciated along with The Sacred Blacksmith a fandom that is almost non-existent for all I know.

I figured that both of these fandoms deserve love and appreciation and I'd be happy to that while improving my own writing skill.

That said, I really hope you enjoy this little love child of animes I've enjoyed a lot during the good times.. _Ah the good times.._

_I wish the lot of you lots and lots of reading pleasure, Ciao!_

* * *

_[Pilot - Departure]_

* * *

One could say that a sword is a measurement to the man's spirit. A longsword represented the_ earnestness_ of man, a claymore representing the _strength_ of man, a rapier representing the _elegance_ of a man. On the other hand, one man was different from the many others that came before him, and even after him, since he wields a sword far too titanic for a _normal_ human being, way too unwieldy and far too impractical.

Too_ thick_.. Too _rough_.. And far too _heavy_, one could claim it's more akin to a heap of unpolished iron than an_ actual_ sword.

Yet, the sole wielder of the colossal, sharpened ore thought differently. That _sword_ wasn't just an a _sword_ to him, for him it was as if his entire being - The entirety of his existence was compiled in that blade. He ended the lives of hundreds with that sword, it allowed him to survive, to grow, to live and now, it was going to free him from the same person who first believed in him, the very same person who clamored that he owned the man behind the sword.

Griffith no longer had ownership over him, it was Guts' time to carve his very own path, with the same sword he clung to for many years.

The muscular youth rose his weapon over his head with keen precision.

Guts bode his time, suspending the iron hunk above his cranium, tracing the silhouette of his opponent; his former leader, Griffith. Like an majestic hawk, Griffith primed his talons, sharpened his gaze and dove at his prey with his longsword-rapier love child in hand.

_'I'm sorry,'_ Guts thought as he brought his sword down with unrelenting force.

The pair of swords clash violently and a spark emits from the kissing iron, for a single moment the snow haired hawk grinned as he stared in the resolute eyes of his second-in-command.

_One second_, a single second changed the air around both the white hawk and the black raven.

Their kissing blades endured before one of them cracked and broke under the pressure, and was thus flung in the air.

It was Griffith's sword.

The large, clunky sword barely stopped in its tracks, merely grazing the white hawk's right shoulder. The snow surrounding their feet flew in the wind thanks to the shock wave formed by the blade.

The broken blade flew gracefully atop the battlefield before landing vertical, lodging itself in the snow inches away from the duel's spectators, a young dark skinned gal with hair in same shade of black as charcoal, a large burly tanned man with a short plume of hair, an average sized teen with blond hair and throwing knifes strapped to his chest, another even younger lad with blond hair but with the physical appearance of a child and finally a dark haired adult with a face that conveyed an ominous mind.

They all watched as their beloved leader fell to his knees, clutching tightly onto the broken sword that saved him many times during the war they fought and won, blood trickled down his attire and strained the snow beneath him crimson.

"Griffith!" The ebony skinned maiden shouted as her feet hastily carry her to Griffith.

The others soon followed her initiative, each approaching Griffith at their own pace of preference.

"Unbelievable, he.. He bested Griffith.. No way.." The ominous man mouthed, as his lip trembled.

Guts sheathed his massive blade before trudging towards his fallen opponent, the white snow squeaked beneath his leather boots with every step he took.

He took a final look at his companions - No, his _friends,_ when he stopped next to Griffith, who stared in the distance beyond. His eyes widen as his gaze was locked away between the mountains far from them.

Guts glanced at the ebony girl, shaking her leader frantically with worry apparent on her features.

_'Casca.'_

His eyes took a look a youth with the throwing knives who had knelt beside Casca, keeping vigilant watch over.

_'Judeau.'_

Turning his head slightly he looked at the towering physique of burly man, who watched over the two tending Griffith.

_'Pippin.'_

Guts drooped his head to see the younger boy watch the four of them from a distance, the boy's face radiating clear awe.

_'Rickert.'_

His eyes finally stop as he faced the ominous adult, he met Guts' eyes radiating malice and hatred for him.

_'Corkus.'_

Guts faced the desolate road before him, his mind was resolute, his heart had decided.

This was the only choice he could live to stand by..

He wanted to say how much the band of the hawk meant to him, how much everyone meant to him, how much this very duel with his_ friend_ meant to him, but when Guts' lips moved he found himself saying words that were much colder than the cool breeze that flowed onto his back.

''I'm going now.''

The cold harsh reality of his words forced the young berserker to take action, because if he didn't he would find himself frozen right at the spot he stood. He forced his body forwards, despite all the voices in his head telling him not to, even against the grim feeling churning in his stomach. He took a step, from that step followed more and more, and eventually the unrest in his body stared to settle little by little.

_'Look back, go back..'_

Guts did his darnedest not to turn around because he knew the moment he did that his resolution would fade, and the wish in his heart would die alongside it.

''GUTS!''

He wanted to falter and turn so badly, to take a glance at Casca who called out him once more, but the resolution in the warrior's heart was far stronger than that desire, and the steps came till he eventually couldn't hear the murmurs of his friends no more.

'_It's all right..'_

A smirk formed on the berserker's face as the cold winds caressed his form.

_'It's.. It's just a small pebble on your path, just a tiny one.'_

_'The place you wanted to be.. is much farther than this right?'_

Guts' head gradually moved upwards, his eyes reflecting the clouds in the sky, his grin now large and toothy.

_'That's why it's okay.. You can get up.. And swiftly continue your journey to greatness.'_

He stopped in his tracks, whirling his head to the side, his eyes fiercely gazing to the distance behind him. His friends were long gone, nothing but snow and trees met his field of vision.

_'I'll be back, I'll depart as someone below you.. But return as your equal.'_


	2. Overture

_**Author Notes**_

Hey, hey dear readers.

I don't have a lot to say today so I'll keep it brief, m'kay.

Spread the love for The Sacred Blacksmith, this series is so underrated it's not even funny anymore. In fact this is the very _first_ fanfic for it since it's _conception in 2009_.

_Anyways,_ _I wish you all lots and lots of reading pleasure_,_ Ta ta!_

* * *

_[1st Spark - Overture]_

* * *

The night sky was colored in a stunning mix of dark and lighter colors, stars shone brightly in the midnight sky. The moon was full, round and pure white in tone. A single owl balanced itself meticulously on a tree branch deep inside the dark forest. Its eyes spotted its prey, seated in front of a fire sat a large hulking man absentmindedly staring into the flames of his campfire.

The owl prepped its talons, tilted its neck and dove straight towards the man, expecting to easily snag an eye or two from the human as a night-time snack.

However, the only thing it met was the rough fist of the berserker, who in fact saw the owl before it began to glide in his direction.

The clean impact knocked the snow white owl harshly to the ground, it was unable to continue its majestic flight and by extension, its great escape.

Guts stared at the unconscious owl for a single moment before turning his back to fetch.. _Something_. The loud cracking noises of breaking twigs echo far and wide through the darkened forest, for a occasion, no sounds were audible.

Then without a single sound, the towering berserker returned with his trusty greatsword in one hand and a long, thin stick in the other. He threw the stick on the ground on a whim and pointed the sword the sleeping owl's head.

''Sorry, bud. Rules of nature, right?'' Guts proclaimed without notable emotion in his voice, he cleft his way through the owl's head killing it instantaneously.

Blood gushed from its wound in a frantic manner at first, but it gradually died down to a steady trickle of blood after a minute or two.

Guts cleaned the owl, removing all the feathers and skin, expelling all the internal organs except for the heart, he sliced off the owl's talons before using the stick he brought with him to skewer the raw pieces of owl flesh, his mouth already began to water in anticipation.

He hovered the kebab of owl meat just above the flames of his campfire, whilst staring determinedly at the blood stained heart that stopped beating for some time now.

'_You only live once, right?'_

He took the heart in hand immediately inserted it in his mouth, his jaw moved in vertical motion as rancid chewing filled the air, blood leaked from the corners the berserker's mouth.

His expression soon turned sour, as his eyes shot open widely in absolute disgust, it was as if he was chewing on a wet, slimy sponge that was dipped in five day old mud.

Within a flash, Guts regurgitated the remains of the owl's heart and was coughing frantically, bits of the former heart was sprayed all over the campfire, making it burn just a tad brighter.

''That was bloody disgusting!'' He wiped the corners of his mouth with his arms, ''And Pippin told me that eating an animal heart was empowering and rich in flavor, ugh..''

Noticing that the meat on his make-shift kebab was nearing the 'overcooked' state, he wasted no time to rid his mouth of the horrible flavor the heart left behind in his mouth with some good and tasty meat owl meat.

The meat was subpar at best, he tasted better and he knew it. Guts sat slumped forwards staring at the flames before him mindlessly.

It's been hours now, and he still couldn't just fall asleep. For some reason he felt uneasy to go to sleep now, was it due to the fact that it had been so long since he slept alone in the wilderness, or was it something else that was withholding him from falling fast asleep.

The berserker's hand trailed towards his sword stationed just beside him, and looked over his shoulder, in response to the sound he caught with his ear.

A wolf with serene blue eyes stared back at the large, hulking man. The grip on his sword tightened for a moment, but as if to simply mock the berserker the wolf ran the opposite direction, leaving him alone again with his own thoughts.

He relaxed back into his sitting spot, and his mind began to wander.

_'Alone, huh?'_

Guts sighed before staring into the golden flames once more,_ 'That's right, I haven't done this for a long time.'_

_'Camping out by myself, that is..'_

Guts eventually abandoned his seated position and laid his head down on the tree trunk his bottom was resting on just moments ago. His eyes trail upwards to the stars and the pure colored moon high above him.

It took a moment but, eventually he rose his voice at himself, ''What the hell, Guts? How come you're so scared?''

The berserker closed his eyes as his imagination began to form an image before him.

_'Come to think of it.. For the past three years, I've never been alone.'_

One eye creaked open gradually to look at his trusty greatsword by his side, _'I forgot that without a sword by my side, I don't feel safe or calm.'_

_'I also forgot how vast and deep the night was..'_

He closed his eyes again to imagine himself walking solemnly on a simple dirt road, alone.

_'Back then, I never thought about running away. Or even a reason to run away from the Band of the Hawk.'_

Guts opened his eyes gradually and slumped forwards, staring at the branch where the white owl was spying on him before it attacked.

_'The things.. The people I've left behind are irreplaceable, I'll probably never have something like that ever again.' _

Guts smirked as his eyes trailed back to the golden flames in front of him, _'..Maybe I could once again...'_

The berserker picked up pebble besides him and threw it into the flames in a nice, graceful arc, embers spawned from the place the pebble collided with the burning wood chunks.

His eyes track the shimmering embers that fleeted into the cold night sky, _'Did I make the right choice? To leave them all behind for the sake of living a unknown future.'_

Guts' hand went for one of the many twigs he piled up near him, he took two of them and snapped them in half with a loud audible 'crack'.

_'Am I shaping my own destiny now..? Just like Griffith did with his own destiny, when he took up his sword, or when he asked me to join the Band of the Hawk?'_

He threw the four pieces of wood into the flames and watched as it slowly blackened by the intense heat of the fire, _'I've changed haven't I?'_

Then the words Corkus left him with earlier, repeated over and over in his mind.

_'You! You'll **never** be like Griffith!'_

_'I guess that's never going to happen anymore, him scolding me at least. After all that is in the past now.'_

Guts' eyes were about to drift shut, till he saw a shadow spreading over him. His arm shot towards his greatsword and unsheathed it in a quick and fluid motion of the hand. Before he realized what he was doing he was standing in his trademark battle pose, ready to attack the shadowy figure that hovered just near him.

But.. There was nothing there, right?

_'What's this!'_ The berserker swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat, a single bead of sweat appeared on his forehead trickling down the outline of his nose, and he still stood tensed in his battle stance taking short, shallow breaths.

_'That.. Evil presence. Is it a wild animal? No..'_

His hands became clammy and moist, vibrating ever so slightly.

_'I remember.. This evil aura is.. Zodd?!'_

Feeling that the presence moved its way behind him, the berserker turned on his feet using all of his gathered momentum to slice at whatever was behind him.

But when his sword stopped in its tracks, there was.. _Nothing_. Only the campfire that was always there, Guts' breathing turns ragged as he placed a hand on his forehead to mop away the pooling sweat.

_'I.. This.. I'm not imagining it.. Right?!'_

When he focused his attention on where he thought the being was, he saw it._ Something_.. Staring right back at him from the darkness, glowing eyes as red as a blood moon.

Guts stood with his sword hefted just in front of him, watching the phantasmal being stepping out of his shadowy cloak of darkness.

_'A skull..?'_

A skeleton donning armor made from bones, rid forward on his steed, which was too covered in bone-like plating. The skeleton's cape billowed in the soft breeze that managed to show up at the last second, giving off a rather foreboding feeling.

Guts stood motionless, anxiously eying up the being that stood before him with a ragged breath.

_'I've never misjudged my opponent's location! Is this.. Zodd?!'_

After examining the being for a little longer, Guts concluded that this couldn't be Zodd but, the same question still remained, _'What does it want from me?'_

''The gears have been set into motion.'' The skeleton spoke emotionless, without even moving it's jaw, _odd_..

_'Gears?'_

Guts stood poised, with sword in hand ready to strike if the being decided to pull a 180 and attack him suddenly.

The sudden deadpan voice of the ominous skeleton shook Guts from his pondering moment, ''Struggler! You must remember!''

''It begins from this moment until the eclipse occurs one year from now.. You and your friends are walking into your doom! Your wretched bodies will be buried and death will consume you all!''

_'Who.. Are you?'_

''But you must remember, struggler! You were born from a corpse and struggle with death every single day! Struggle, challenge and rise to struggle once more.''

The skeleton paused, as if to take a deep breath. The berserker stood motionless, waiting for the being to conclude his speech.

''That is the only sword a struggler like you can wield. Don't ever forget that!''

Feeling fed up with the the skeleton rider's cryptic nonsense, Guts finally spoke up to meet the being at equal height. Yet, all that came from his lips were only more and more desperate questions.

''Who are you?! How do you know about me?!'' Guts yelled in a distressed manner, even though he yelled, his voice was barely audible. Perhaps the crippling sensation of fear rilled the berserker.

The skeleton rider slowly turned away from the sword wielder, it treks out in the distance beyond leaving only one parting gift for Guts.

''You don't want to fall in too deep, struggler,'' The being paused dramatically as if to keep Guts in anticipation, ''Otherwise...''

Noticing that the skeleton knight was riding away in the distance, Guts empowers his legs in order to run after him.

''Wait! Wait?!''

Yet, with his speed he was unable to keep up with the skeleton knight and it disappeared in the shroud of night, leaving Guts confused and disoriented.

_'Skull Knight,'_ He dubbed the thing in his mind.

The berserker's head sank, he lifted his sword onto his shoulder and made his way back to his camp for a good night rest.

When he turned around he glanced back to where the skull knight stood.

_'Something tells me that this isn't the last time I'll see of him.'_

* * *

**...**

* * *

"Really.. Like really? Are you sure you want to rob me?"

Guts took a quick glance to his left and quickly spotted his pride and joy, resting against a tree trunk several steps away. However it was too far away from him, just grabbing it and slicing the scarred bandit in half would be nearly impossible, not without the bandits jumping on him first. He quickly whirled his head back to the scarred robber, holding his hands above his head.

Guess he won't have a blissful stroll through the forest any longer.

''Goddammit, just hand me all ye' bloody money already.'' The scarred bandit waved his knife back and forth, perhaps to try to intimidate the muscular youth before him. Unbeknown to him, Guts stood unaffected.

_'Five. Two in front, three in the back. No one with a bow or crossbow.'_

''You know what?'' The berserker questioned in a mocking tone.

''What? That ye' are going to die for that stupid pouch of money that you're carrying with you.'' The bandit pointed to Guts' pouch that was bound to his belt.

''Nah, you got something on your face.'' Guts indicated his chin with his meaty index finger, while keeping his remaining arm hoisted.

The bandit's eyebrow rose in sheer confusion, for a moment he glanced away from the muscular berserker to scrub his chin in a vulgar fashion, he drenched his hand in saliva, taking his eyes off Guts. This moment was all the berserker needed.

''What are ye' blabber-!''

With a single stride Guts exploded forwards keeping his arms close to his core to emphasize his speed, within short moments he cuts the distance by a large margin, the scarred bandit's face was struck with large amounts of fear, seeing the once defenseless person bear his teeth and shouting a monstrous war cry. The bandit hoisted the knife, in Guts' direction but the trained soldier easily ducked underneath the high thrust.

Guts smirks condescendingly as he grabs the bandit's extended forearm, locking it in place. Before violently bursting skywards while placing his elbow just behind the bandit's, a sickening 'pop' echoed in the small forest clearing. The bandit screams in anguish as he fell to the ground while holding on to his dislocated arm, the elbow was grossly protruding from his skin. He was crying, snot dribbling from his nose, Guts almost felt sad, _a__lmost_.

He _did_ warn them.

With the footsteps of the man's comrades quickly closing in, Guts hurriedly scoops the fallen knife from the ground, just in time to duck underneath a high slash meant to slice at his jugular vein. The soldier lunges forwards in the direction of his stationary large blade, seemingly ignoring the rogue that attempted to slash his throat, another bandit stood on his path but the berserker kept low to the ground and levels the knife just in front of him.

With composed strength he thrusts the short knife right in the...

''AAAAAAAAIIIEEE! My Manhood!''

.._Sensitive_ spot..

Guts tries his hardest to hold back the wave of laughter that tried to force itself from his lips, with quick motions he made his way to his sword, without too much issue.

''I've missed you, you know. That small knife just can't compare to you.'' The hulking soldier said suavely to the blade that he straddled in both hands.

The three remaining bandits circle around the towering soldier, each holding a dagger in hand, some serrated and others smooth and clean. Guts tries his hardest too keep the three of them centered in his peripheral vision, but it was a daunting task, the remaining three were swift on their feet.

''You know, you three can still back out. I don't feel like killing you sorry lot anyway.''

''Funny lad, I was about ta' say the same dang thing.'' One of three answered back, with a tone one could only describe as 'smug'.

''Suit yourselves.. _It's your funeral_.'' Guts spat out with notable venom in his voice, whilst poising himself in his standard battle stance.

The battlefield went silent, no word was uttered for the span of 15 seconds. No one moved as much as a muscle only staring at each other, trying to anticipate their opponent's movements. Guts could hear the faint whimpers of the two men who were clenching on their painful spots, he couldn't help but grin at the sound of it.

Two of the bandits notice the creepy grin on the swordsman's face, and slowly stepped away, while shivering heavily. One of them however, the same one who spoke earlier finally made his move. He dashed towards Guts in zig-zag like motion, twisting and turning his body with speeds that surprised the berserker. Before Guts knew it, he was already an arm length away from him. The bandit's smile widens as he thrusts the short blade, aiming at Guts's heart.

In desperation the berserker tried to swat away the pesky bandit with the blunt side of his blade, yet the motion came too late and the dagger pierced his skin.

''No one can avoid m'ah Phantom Draw, you were just too slow. You should have just handed your money to me, Jaskal the Phantom.'' Jaskal spoke with clear pride and confidence.

''Oh? Should I have done that?'' Guts stated with a clear condescending attitude.

Jaskal's eyes widen, his mouth hangs open from sheer shock. It seems like Guts cracked the overwhelming confidence of the man before him.

''You know, next time you try to penetrate someone, make sure that you insert more than just the tip.''

Jaskal's eyes slowly trail towards his knife and saw that Guts barely caught the blade barehanded, only the tip of the dagger drew blood from his skin, no matter how hard the bandit struggled to retrieve his knife, it was stuck and no amount of effort would un-stuck it.

''This gonna 'urt ain't it.'' Jaskal whimpered softly, clearly knowing how much of a pinch he's in.

''A_ lot_.''

Within moments Guts uttered that line his massive sword cleanly clefted through most of Jaskal's front arm, blood gushed violently onto Guts' form. He remained composed as the screams of Jaskal pierce the air surrounding the berserker. Jaskal's arm landed on the soft grass with a 'thud', still grasping onto the dagger with all its might.

The two remaining unscathed bandits hightailed out of the combat zone the moment their partner fell victim to Guts' mighty strength.

A sigh rolled off the berserker's tongue as he shook the residue blood and flesh off his blade with a single swipe, and sheathed his sword on his back. A sharp sting reminded him that he had been stabbed, and while looking at his shirt he noticed a steady trickle of blood staining the dark blue fabric.

_'That's gonna sting for days..'_

The berserker's eyes then drooped towards the fallen bandit, Jaskal. He was out like a light, while clutching onto a ripped piece of clothing. Guts immediately puts the pieces together.

_'Trying your hardest to survive, huh?'_

Guts felt a tinge of nostalgia welting him, just like the fallen bandit he too landed into tough spots, but whatever happened he stood as strong as he did and survived.

Guts lowered his body and tied the piece of torn clothing around the bandit's stump and slowed down his bleeding, and without a second wasted he stepped away from the bandit.

_'I'm probably gonna regret this.'_

The berserker salvaged the remaining useful stuff from his make-shift campsite, such as flint, tinder and a stone he used as a make-shift sharpener for his large blade. He lifted the items into his brown leather bag and slung it over his shoulder with ease.

As Guts walked back into the forest, his trained ears caught the sound of.. _Chanting_.

With peak human speed Guts turned towards the origin of the sound, and spotted the defeated bandit with misaligned arm standing and sneering deliriously. An inhuman tongue escaped from his lips, the words were drenched in darkness and death.

**''&amp;^$#-&amp;(! }\\[**^&amp;$^$''**

The language wasn't like anything Guts ever experienced before, it made him shudder from where he stood. The bandit's flesh was slowly being covered in ancient.. runes of some sort. The runes began to glow fiercely and started steaming the very moment they appeared on the bandit's skin. Guts gripped his sword tighter in the instance the bandit's agonizing screams pierced the air surrounding him.

_'Just what's going on! This guy was out cold just a moment ago!'_

He gave the humanoid being no quarters to attack or move, Guts took a single step forwards and sliced through the air violently planning to let the awesome reach of his blade do its work for him.

Although, he found unexpected resistance when the blade collided with the bandits supple flesh yet, it was without a doubt a direct hit, since blood gushed from the impact area, It steadily moved down the length of his blade. The bandit however, showed no sign of pain at all, the bandit just kept cackling in a demented manner, as if the humanoid just went delirious within the span of moments, emitting more and more steam from the runes placed at various spots from his body.

Guts' hands quivered slightly when he started to recognize the sickening presence the thing is radiating, it definitely wasn't human anymore.

It was akin to.. _Zodd_ or that _Skull Knight_!

As he now had an idea what he was up against, he doubled his efforts to not let the thing escape. Using all the force he could muster in his trained body he tried to force the blade through the being's forearm. As the the sweat on his forehead trickled down, no advantage was gained, no matter how much power Guts invested in the endeavor, he would reach the same conclusion without fail. The sword just couldn't slash further into the arm than it already has.

And the struggler soon noticed why, the place of impact that was originally an arm, twisted and morphed into a bone spike, effectively trapping the sword in it's hardened state. Now it was nearly impossible to retrieve the blade as well. The being slowly began to cloak itself into a bone like armor.

It's other arm too morphed into a similar state and he lunged for Guts' stomach. Forcing his hand, Guts lets go of the sword in order to swerve to the side, dodging the bone pike with a hair's length. Cursing under his breath Guts hastily looked for a new weapon, he spotted one but he didn't really feel like retrieving the darn thing.

After all it was firmly planted into that bandit's_ manhood._.

_'Oh.. You've got to be kidding me..!'_

As the berserker slowly came to realize the dirty deed that needed to be done for survival's sake, he shuddered mentally. Sadly that moment took to long as the bone being already closed the distance that Guts created, from his blind side he was rocketed into the skies by the overwhelming force the being exerted onto him. He tried to grab the hilt of his blade as he was catapulted into the sky, the action proved to be in vain.

As he flew, he noticed the beautiful sunrise in the distance, the struggler was in trance with it's astounding colors, orange, purple, blue and red. All those colors were popping into his eyes as if they were stuffed into Guts' brain. He couldn't help but smile and chuckle at the sight of it as the wind blew past him..

_'Wind?'_

_'Oh right.. I'm still in the air..'_

Guts grimaces as realization dawns on him, he twists and turns in the skies as gravity pulls him down, with a final glance in the distance he saw the creature now completely clad in bone staring right at him. Twigs cut into Guts' exposed skin and clothing as he descended with haste to the ground. He braced himself for the harsh impact by shielding his face with his toned arms. As his arms start to slide into his vision he identified a large mop of golden blond hair closing in at an alarming rate.

''Watch out, little lady!''

Instead of running away the girl turned towards the origin of the voice, her eyes widen in shock as she yelps. The shrill sounded ended as soon as it began, and all Guts could feel was his body colliding painfully with the girl's, before everything faded to blackness.


	3. Juncture

_**Author Notes**_

_Well, it has certainly been a while hasn't it. To be quite frank, I completely forgot this story existed until two weeks ago and after that I finally managed to finish up this long overdue chapter._

_I think it would be apt to tell you all that that this chapter is supposed to happen somewhere before the events of The Sacred Blacksmith. It allows me with more time to develop Lisa, Guts and Luke make the original opening of the anime a bit more unique when I finally get to that point._

_As usual, I wish all of you the very best of reading pleasure._

* * *

_[2nd Spark - Juncture]_

* * *

"All I'm say... High time... Abandon him."

Feeling started to slowly manifest in the berserker's body. Yet, he was groggy, drowsy and disoriented. His head seems to throb in his cranium, his throat is all dried up and Guts' breathing was unsteady and painful to boot. It was as if someone smashed a hot sledgehammer into his exposed ribcage and he could feel every single crack rubbing against each other when he breathed.

"Luke, we can't... That."

_'Voices?'_

A set of voices kept Guts anchored to his consciousness. He however, did not have a single clue who the people were. Guts prepped his body to rise, but met an uncomfortable sting of pain originating from his chest. He hastily bit in his own cheeks in order to prevent himself from wailing out in pain.

_'Right.. Completely forgot that I was stabbed..'_

He forced himself to straighten his body despite the pain disagreeing with him. As he tried to stand, a tremor shook the floor he stood on, pushing him back to the floor with an audible _'Thud'_. The soldier's vision blurred and the pain in his chest grew worse due to the impact. He found himself breathing heavily as he tried to pull himself upwards.

It seemed to have roused Guts' guests out of their conversation to focus their attention on him.

A girl with golden blond hair crawled her way to him. Her large lavender beads gazing intently into his own. Another tremor shook the ground below them, causing the girl to lose her balance and crash face first to the wooden floor, exposing her bandaged forehead. The discolored rags on her body wrinkled as she tried to crawl back on her feet.

The sound of snorting filled the air, it came from an adolescent male whose chestnut brown hair ended into a prim and proper, low ponytail. One of his blue eyes stood out to Guts, since it didn't shift from its position unlike the other one.

"Luke! Stop laughing..! Please..?" The blond girl voiced whilst she gradually made her way to Guts.

"No can do." The adolescent replied to her pleas by stopping whatever strange carriage Guts found himself in; promptly causing the young girl to kiss the wood with her forehead again.

"Owwie.."

Guts managed to keep himself steady during the sudden movements, he refrained to speak a word with his _'good Samaritans'_, war taught him that no one commits someone else a favor without asking something substantial in return and if war didn't taught him that, Griffith certainly did. Besides if things went south he could always figh-..!

_'Of course, my sword is still embedded within that _'thing'_..'_

Being naked would give him more protection that being without his sword. While Guts was silently contemplating what to do, the young blond girl steadily made her way to injured berserker, carefully poking and prodding at the bandages on his arm. The sudden sensation of touch shocked him out of his thinking and dark, dank memories surfaced in his brain.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" He lashed out at the girl, slapping her finger away and causing her to flinch in fear.

"Lisa, get away from that guy!" The adolescent dismounted from the carriage and stomped his way towards the two of them, he grabbed the girl coined Lisa and shielded her behind him. Lisa clutched at the youth's back, merely tilting her head a tad to gaze at the large hulking man. The youth's hand trailed towards the hilt of his sword strapped to his side.

"Get out of my carriage! I knew there was something off about you, bandit."

Guts' eyebrow shot up in sheer confusion. Him, a _bandit_. How extremely wrong this person was. However the former soldier was no fool, he was quite in a pinch without his sword - Without any weaponry at all - he had no choice but to oblige, despite his awesome physically prowess, he was still injured. A wounded dog is easier to put down.

_'Pick your battles carefully, is what Judeau's survival rule said.'_

"…" Guts remained quiet as he disembarked from the vehicle, he kept his eyes locked on the youth's eyes - or _'eye'_ rather. Not once did he stop gazing at the youth's sword hand, which seemed calloused and scarred. The young man was no stranger to battle, a detail that further cements Guts' disadvantage.

''Luke, don't do this. This off-road route is unsafe for anyone, especially a wounded person.'' Lisa conveyed with worry as she tugged at his black cloak.

''Tch.. No worries little lady, I've lived through worse that some _'unsafe road'_.'' The soldier responded, almost without emotion.

Luke's eyes narrow at Guts and his sword hand relaxes a bit, his hand still remained near the hilt of his oddly curved blade. Could it one of those rumored scimitars he heard about? It's rumored that those blades leave nasty and deep slashes that make your blood spill as fast as a waterfall. Though he tries to keep face stone hard, he really doesn't want to witness if those rumors are true.

''You heard the man Lisa. Besides we still need to get to Erast to get that Tamahagane,'' Luke's eye never left Guts. It seems though that he's willing to back off since he motioned to Lisa to board the carriage again and the girl reluctantly obeys.

''Any belongings you've left in the carriage?'' Luke asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

''I tend to travel light,'' The soldier stated with strong sarcasm.

''Cheeky. You might not want to forget your sword the next time. But, I'm sure that bandits can find their way around that.'' He retorted with venom laced in his tone.

''I'll have to ask them that when I see 'em, bud.''

When bats his eyes once more at Guts he most likely deemed him too little of a threat and released his grip on his sword hilt, if it were any other person than this fool might already be dead now. However Guts did appreciate it that did their best to patch him up, and for all that's worth he really didn't want to rob the younger gal from whatever family Luke is supposed to be to her.

''C'mon run along. You have till the count of ten and if you haven't left my sight, I'll prick a lot more holes than Lisa can patch up.''

''Fair enough.'' Guts smiled, this was the first conversation he had in weeks and it ended with someone threatening to kill him, _Some things never change_.

Despite the fact that Guts felt really uncomfortable to turn his back to an armed person, the youth's eye revealed no concealed lies and neither did the language of his body. Then again hindsight is twenty twenty. All he could do is gamble on his knowledge on people and hope that this person is more decent than all the others he met on the other end of his sword.

''One.''

Guts slowly turned on his heels, whilst he did that he met the eyes of Lisa who expressed worry for his safety. He'd be flattered, if he trusted her that is. A cold shiver descends his spine as his back is now fully exposed to Luke.

''Two.''

''Calm your milk sacks, you daft tyke. I'm already leaving,'' Guts spat in annoyance.

Luke retorted with a single word, ''Three.''

Guts' eyebrow twitched, but he ignored the the embers of anger igniting in his stomach and paced towards to the thick, green growth in front of him. The faint sound of rustling undergrowth made him halt dead in his tracks though, as took a moment to focus on the dim sound, a familiar echo made itself known.

''Four.''

Ignoring the buffoon's counting, Guts sharpened his hearing to make sense of the muffled noises. He even noted the cold sound of steel being unsheathed by his_ patron._

''_Five_..'' Luke's voice was dripping with hostility.

''Oh.. Could you just shut your mouth for one sec-!'' The sharp vibrations of a snapping twig caught his ears, he hastily whirled his head to meet the origin of the noise.

''DUCK!'' Just as Guts yelled these words, he followed his own advice. Nearly avoiding a projectile that would've pierced his eye if he were even three seconds too slow.

Luke had more than ample time to deflect the projectile speeding toward him, with a hasty stroke to the right the projectile was embedded in the grass several feet beside him, ''I knew it, you set us up for a trap!''

As Guts examined the object's color and texture he realized instantly that it was.. _Bone_. Knowing immediately what adversary awaited him, Guts motioned the youth to not get near his position, but he didn't listen. He was too invested in his own hunches and he ran at him with his sword raised ready to remove Guts' head cleanly off from his shoulders.

While Guts prepared his body to move quickly, a white blur leaped from the green undergrowth. It launched itself over him and went straight for the copper haired youth. When Luke realized that Guts was the least of his issues, he barely managed to get in proper defensive stance. However, the bone creature carried more than enough force to knock Luke off of his feet. Suddenly he was fighting for his life, as the only thing that prevented the creature from tearing out his throat would be his sword that was lodged in the thick layer of bone.

_'Shit..'_ Was all that assaulted Guts' thoughts as scrambled back on his feet.

''Luke! Luke! Someone, anyone help!'' Lisa's distressed voice echoed endlessly in the forest. It was only now that the forest seemed so barren and lonely, now when no matter how hard one screamed for help it was nowhere to be seen, _help wasn't coming_.

''Lisa, stay back! Don't you dare.. To come near me!'' Luke struggled as large globs of saliva from the beast dribbled over his hands, weakening his grip bit by bit.

Guts slid a hand underneath his brown cloak and met an unnatural warmth on his palm, looking more closely at his bandaged hand he saw red fluids staining the yellowy bandage. His chest wound opened up when he made such a frantic maneuver. As the fluids of his life began to trickle away bit by bit, he thought of abandoning Lisa and Luke to whatever cruel fate the seven gods above had in store for them. After all, their safety was not his problem, especially since that Luke tried to kill him just moments ago.

As he went and limped his way to safety, a ray of light burned in his eye. He blocked it with his arm and followed the direction of where the ray originated from and what he saw was.

''Oh, for Midland's sake!'' Guts found his large blade still embedded in the back of the skeletal beast, light reflecting right off the entire length of the blade. He couldn't help but unleash a large sigh.

_'The gods sure smile upon them today.'_

Guts bursts into a mad sprint directly for his sword, his wounds protest to this sudden action, but his sword meant more to him than his entire body did. The creature had all of its attention fixated on the snack underneath it, so when the berserker uprooted the blade from the beast's back with all the strength his wounded body, it came as sudden surprise to both the creature and his snack.

The beast forthwith recoiled from Luke and looked Guts straight in his eyes. Though Guts had no idea how much time passed from their last encounter, he noted that the beast no longer looked quite humanoid as it did before. Sharp bone was protruding from from all areas of his flesh, effectively turning it into a human sized hedgehog. Whomever the bandit was before he was not the same person anymore, how tragic.

Whilst Guts stands in his comfortable battle stance, he observed that his trusty blade was worn, damaged and chipped. Deep and nasty cracks are rooted firmly within the core of the blade. It saddened Guts to see the same metal he carried with him for so long was so mutilated. It felt as if a part of himself wavered a tad as he gazed at the blade's injuries.

As the bony beast continued to leer deeply into Guts' eyes, he felt at ease to some extent. Of course he felt fear but it was healthy fear every soldier carried into battle. It's moments like these that made him recall that he really is meant for battle, and that no other place made him feel just _that_ alive. Guts grinned from ear to ear.

''C'mon you over sized toothpick! We have a score to settle remember!'' As Guts deftly lifted the blade to his side, the beast roared as if to accept Guts' challenge.

Out of the corner of his eye, Guts could see Luke giving him a nod of acknowledgment, one that represented a reluctant thanks. The copper haired swordsman ran to the carriage presumably to guarantee Lisa's safety. Guts honestly didn't really care, his battle hungry self started to surface. He had been lacking a challenge for quite a while. After General Boscogn died by his hand, no warrior other than Griffith and Casca was able to even make him sweat.

This was just what he _needed_.

Twisting his body sideways his sword gained momentum and made a large sweeping arch, ready to bite deeply into the creature's side. The force was enough to drive the creature from its strong stance and lose its balance, but a the cost of the blade itself. It seemed like the sword could only manage to keep itself together just for this singular moment.

The metal splinters and shimmers in the afternoon sun as it gracefully flew in the air. The blade's imposing girth had been reduced to merely a little more than half of what it used to be. The death of his sword fueled Guts' battle lust only further, as he rushed towards the staggered beast bringing down his broken slab of metal again and again in fury.

For a while the beast was unable to properly counter Guts' relentless assault, but Guts' injuries and fatigue quickly got the best of him and he found himself stuck in a struggle against the beast as it rained down his sharp claws down on him with unmatched precision. The slab of metal soaked most of the grievous blows the creature dealt, but before long blood streamed from the freshly cut wounds of his arms.

With its massive claws ready strike almost instantaneously after the last attack, Guts found himself stuck on the defense a lot more than he liked. It was especially hard to cleave through his thick armor of bone spikes. It made the being tricky to fight against, since its entire body could effectively be used as weapon.

He narrowly dodged a shoulder bash that could have emptied out his intestines. It was then that a light sprouted forth from the carriage, and the voice of Luke along with the light's arrival.

''Dehydrate.. Shatter.. Select.. Gather.. Forge..''

This split second of unawareness enough for the beast to pounce on, within moments it closed the gap between itself and Guts and grabbed hold of his broken sword and shattered its metal corpse even further within its claws. Avoiding the follow up attack by a hair, Guts was now both tired and weaponless. The beast seemed to love the sheer distress on his face as it convulsed in inhuman laughter. It approached and the berserker could only point his hilt at the beast in mock vigor, he was out of options.

The only thing left was to make a break for it and hope that he could lose the thing somewhere on the way.

His grip on his hilt tightened as his eyes darted around for anything that could aid in some way, but he found little space to look at with large creature blocking most of his perception. Then he noted something weird from a patch of grass diagonally away from him. It seemed to sparkle and glow brighter than its comrades surrounding it. Reminded the light that his sword reflected, Guts took a gamble.

He darted straight at the being and just when he's within claw's reach, he threw the hilt straight at the creature's eye, it was a direct hit. As it flailed around with its bony arms, Guts rolled to side and passed him. He saw the curved blade stuck into the soil. He couldn't help but smirk at the sight of it and his previous distress already began to waver because of it. His hand wrapped around the black cloth on the hilt and the curved blade was quickly uprooted.

It was a light blade compared to what he usually wielded. The hilt felt comfortable and sleek, the steel shimmered in the sun, illuminating the different colorations of the steel itself. The back of the blade was flat, dull and dark unlike his own blade, the other side was thin, sharp and the steel seemed to resemble a wave to some extent. However, the sword wasn't in perfect condition. The blade was warped at the tip, not much but more than enough to render it unable to stab anymore.

It was the only weapon left so Guts once more stood proudly in his combat stance, he made adjustments to it on the fly in order to work with the imperfections of the weapon. Still, now he had to hope that the blacksmith of the weapon had forged it well enough to take some punishment.

As the beast charged blindly once more, Guts rose the warped blade above his head and brought it down with all the force his wounded and fatigued body could muster in such a short span of time. The beast narrowly prevented the blade from lodging deeply inside its skull, but there was still a price that needed to be paid. The sword cleanly cut through the bone armor on it's arm and the sword bit half way in its now-exposed flesh. Blood spurted from the wound, staining the sword and the arms of its wielder.

_'Incredible, it went though such thick plated armor.. I never seen a sword with such cutting power with so little weight to it.'_

The beast wailed out in agony as Guts used all of his might to pull out the blade once more, but it was unexpectedly persistent, with every tug the beast howled out more. Guts swore under his breath as he couldn't loosen the blade, his tenacity was commendable most times. However now it only allowed the beast to rake through his side with his unharmed claw. Guts was launched to the side and began to bleed out rapidly, he quickly ran a hand against the wound and he was happy to note that none of his bowels were sprawled across the grassy field.

Yet, now he was unable to even move as consciousness began to blur and feeling in his body began to fade. He diagnosed that he's losing too much blood too fast. He tried to stand, but only met heavy pain impulses from his body, outright refusing his orders. He just needs a second to catch his breath, just a couple moments to recover a bit.

However the beast stood near his downed body like hungry raven ready to dig right into a fresh carcass. Guts refused to be eaten by this thing, he has a purpose now, he couldn't go and die on the side of the road just now. He needed to become Griffith's equal in his own way, through his own means, by his own achievements. How is able to do this if he were to die now?

His fingers dug deeply into the soil of the ground as he forces his body to stand, pain similar to thousands of needles being pressed inside of him assaulted his brain. Guts however still preserved and slowly but surely started to regain his composure. This was still too slow and beast rose its massive claw to skewer the soldier completely.

As Guts waited for the final blow to come, it never made its appearance. When he stood on his own two feet again, the beast lied sprawled across the the grass, it lied sliced in two. The perpetrator wielded a curved blade veiled in flames, he flourished the blade and at the end of its showiness the blade decomposed and journeyed the sky as powder dust. Luke pocketed the leftover hilt in his satchel and met Guts with compressed lips.

''What? You want a thank you for saving me?'' Guts guessed as he shook his head, trying to clear the lightness inside it.

''Like you were going to bless me with one.''

''_Hell no_.''

''I figured,'' Luke said with a half grin. His gaze went over Guts' wound, it was still bleeding even as they spoke, he began to scowl.

Guts tracked the direction of his eyes, ''I can handle this, no need to dirty your hands with a bandit, right?''

Luke almost looked away in embarrassment, ''Look.. I guess, I was wrong about that. You're a tractable person, any other would have fled and left us to die.''

''Well, maybe I should have done that. It would have spared me the-'' Guts winced as a sharp sting made him stop in his sentence, ''It would have spared me the extra wounds.''

Luke looked at the soldier's wound with mild concern, his eyebrows crunched together as he opened his mouth, ''Want to have that looked at in the carriage?''

Guts stood perplexed, ''You first accuse me for a bandit, then you threatened me with your sword and now you expect me to take your help?''

''Well, kinda. Yeah. Hindsight is twenty twenty.''

''You know, I take you up on that,'' Guts began to wobble on his feet, ''I feel kinda drowsy.''

''So what do I call you, or do I have coin you _'bandit'_ after all?'' Luke stated cockily, a small smile stained his lips.

''Guts.''

''Really, you look more like a.. Dieck to me.''

''If you wanna insult me, try to not to do it with shitty puns, you daft tyke,'' Guts grumbled.

''You need any help to get to the carriage?'' Luke offered politely as he turned on his heels.

''Screw you. Uh..''

''Luke. Luke Ainsworth is the name.'' Luke replied as he casually strolled away.

Guts watched as Luke met Lisa half way during his stroll, she seemed to beam with happiness as she stood before the adolescent. Guts griped under his breath as he limped his way forwards. He contemplated on the happy scene before him, before turning around to re-witness the horrors he faced today, his mind raced for answers to explain this strange day.

What was the words the bandit spoke? Why did he turn to a being with a similar presence to Zodd? Who are these Luke and Lisa? What's with the sword Luke uses? And what about this _'Tamahagane'_?  
_  
Too many questions, too little answers_.

As Guts' eyes search for the hilt of his broken blade, Lisa jogged to meet him. As she finally managed to get within his vicinity Guts' knees grew weak and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The last sound he heard before everything went dark was Lisa.

''Not again!''


	4. Tincture

_**Author Notes**_

_So uh.. This must be weird for you all.  
_

_''Gem finally updated according to his 'planning'.''_

_This was both a quick one and a not-so-quick one to be fair. The beginning was awful to get through, I kept doubting everything I wrote. However once we reach the more dialogue heavy stuff, I had a blast._

_Either way, OC alert! (Don't worry they'll all have minor roles, now and in the future)_

_Forevermore, I wish you the very best of reading pleasure._

* * *

_[3rd Spark - Tincture]  
_

* * *

''Death _will_ come for you.''

Guts stood alone, enveloped within the dankest darkness, ''What?''

''It's like I said before. If you stay with him, you are only fated to die,'' A towering figure protruded from the darkness.

''Fate could go to hell then!''

It was difficult to see through the darkness within this place, but Guts knew the sense of fear that descended his spine. A familiar feeling hopelessness and dread. As if one had to await the reaper coming to collect his soul, his heart began to thump louder, he could feel his heart beating inside of his hands. Guts scanned his surroundings for his sword, but the blackness revealed nothing.

Eventually his eyes began to adjust to the darkness, unveiling the appearance of the being that invaded his personal safety. Guts stiffened as he stared back at the golden irises, which seemed to be the only objects that conducted some sort of light. In his peripheral vision he saw horns the size of his torso flanking him from either side, effectively trapping all of his attention on the familiar being before him. A bead of sweat caught his eye, it stung, but it was impossible to blink right now.

He'd die if he gave the monstrosity even a microsecond of free play.

''You can struggle all you want, struggler. Yet, you will die. Humans_ always _die.''

In the golden eyes Guts saw a familiar trinket, one that his friend always carried with him. It was charm that gave him luck so he said, it was the-

''-Behelit,'' Guts mouthed softly.

His fists tightened, wherever he went it would always give chase. Wherever he thought he was safe, was never safe to begin with. Nightmares of that battle still held him captive, so many of his trusted companions - soldiers who he trained personally, dead. He could still hear the endless echoes of their screams, the sound of blades crashing against their flesh, blood caked everywhere, gore splattered from the walls to the ceiling. It was a landscape crafted in the image of hell itself.

_Nosferatu Zodd_ came after him countless times. While he could do nothing more than run, only prolonging his own death by his hands.

Now he stood here yet again, awaiting death that Zodd brought with plentiful agony. With clenched fists Guts stood frozen. His mind screamed at him to move, but his body remained rooted to the spot, a primal fear encroached it and it wasn't letting go.

Guts felt Zodd's razor-like teeth sink into his neck, pain shot through him like electricity. His fingers contorted in pure agony, he couldn't hold back the scream that his lungs were desperate to release. The iron-like taste of blood overwhelmed his mouth, it made him cough and gag. Zodd made sure that Guts felt every inch of his teeth sliding into his arteries, the feeling of his flesh being split drove Guts' mind to edge of sanity. The pain lasted for an indefinite time for him, it always did.

He felt all life leaving his body, his consciousness grew weary and the last things his eyes could perceive is how his body slumped forwards..

_Headless.._

* * *

**!Scene Break!**

* * *

A wooden door creaked open. The sound of water droplets emanated through it, and within moments a mop of golden hair was caught within the light that entered the small room. The girl grunted as she forces the heavy door to move by using her back, clutching tightly onto a metal tureen. Water sloshed around as she finally broke contact with the door, she strutted towards the bed that was tucked away in one of the room's corners. With a soft thud she laid down tureen and took a nearby chair to take a seat.

Lisa let out a cry of satisfaction as the cool water enveloped her dainty hands, the piece of cloth she held in her hands absorbed water. She wrung out the excess fluids and wiped her face. Lisa's features softened as she drenched the cloth once again in the tureen, with her free hand she peeled the bedsheets away, a man was hidden beneath it.

Guts stirred, sweat pooled off of his body and blood caked his bandages. He grunted every now and then, and his fingers dug deeply within mattress. He mouthed something, but his lips only unleashed silence.

Lisa gazed at the man with lowered eyelids, her lips turned into a frown as more minutes passed. Her hand reached for his forehead and upon touching it, she felt a heat stronger than the hearth Luke has within his shop. She quickly retracted her hand and placed it on the drenched bandages that encompassed most of his upper body. She undid them with care, making sure that she wouldn't aggravate the wounds he had.

_Scars_. Scars littered the man's body as many as there were stars in the sky. In fact, Lisa reflected that his body was more akin to one giant pile of scarred tissue, she was curious as to how the man had obtained them, but his interaction with her days ago showcased the man's lack of trust in anyone. Lisa knew it wasn't wise to poke a wounded lion, so she felt that whenever Guts woke, she wouldn't say a word.

Lisa wrung out the cloth again and methodically cleansed his body of dirt, sweat and blood. His defined muscle texture made it hard for her to properly wipe his torso clean, she would always struggle with the way the flesh curved and hardened to response of his breathing. Not to mention that the entire situation felt quite embarrassing for her.

She was still girl after all. The sensation of cleaning such an _active_ man - or any man, made her feel weird and tingly inside. She fought hard to not blush as she did resumed, but eventually she would simply stop resisting.

It's not like he'd wake anytime soon anyway.

She dipped the cloth in the tureen and moved to work on his arms and shoulders, she secured his massive hand between her thighs and bent forward, rubbing the cloth against his arm. Redness tainted her cheeks as she did this, but she withheld the need to storm out of the room. After all, he did save Luke and herself. This was the least she could do for him.

Even if Luke _forbade_ her to be here in the first place.

The girl gulped away her pent up saliva, hastily changing her thoughts. After a moment she finished cleaning both his arms and scooted her chair closer in order wipe his face.

Guts' eyes moved frantically in his sockets, his breathing was harsh and his nostrils flared every now and then. As her eyes fell on the man, she felt her entire mood worsening, slowly shook her head and took a deep breath. She took the cloth in hand inched down towards his face.

The moment the wet rag touched his face, Guts' eyes opened and he screamed.

His arm shot out and wrapped around her throat, Lisa tried gasped in shock, but felt that air was trapped within her lungs. As her eyes tracked Guts' she could only see pain and rage spilling from them, an ugly rage that was aimed at everyone around him. She gaged and her hands curved around Guts' arm, forcing her nails into his flesh, as her vision went blurry.

Guts relaxed, his grip wavered and he retracted his arm with wide eyes, ''Kid..?''

Lisa fell backwards, her back collided painfully against the wooden floorboards. The tureen flew on its side spilling the contents everywhere. Her hands encircled her throat and she crawled away, sucking in the air. Her eyes watered as she breathed, she could only focus on the pain every time she drew breath. The pain reminded her that she could still breathe, that she was _still_ alive.

Realization dawned on Guts as he laid eyes on his hand, ''Shit.. I didn't mean to.. I thought..''

Tears spilled from her eyes and sobbing from her lips, she hugged her knees and hid herself in the corner of the room. She cried, expending all the pent up air she collected. She had no care if others heard her, she did not care if Luke hear her. All she wanted to forget what just happened.

Guts climbed out of bed, his head pounded in his skull and his body felt stiff and sore. He gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stand upright, he noted that bandages and a piece cloth fell to the floor, a wet thud resonated through the room. Guts ignored the obvious protesting of his body and stepped forwards.

His foot caught the metal tureen and he spiraled out of balance, the force of gravity forced him to grovel.

''Argh,'' His body crashed soundly against the floor, arousing the crying girl in the corner.

''Guts,'' She crawled towards the berserker, her eyes connected with Guts' own.

He wheezed for a moment, ''Kid, I.. I didn't mean to do that.''

Lisa wiped her tears and tried to support his head in her arms, ''Of course, I'm sorry.. I overreacted.''

''Don't be, I can be kinda scary sometimes,'' Guts said with a frown.

''_Kinda_? More like _lotsa,_'' She found the ability to laugh at her own inside joke.

''Hey, kid?''

Lisa cocked her head, ''What is it?''

''Could help me back on bed, I'd rather not stay on damn floor like some dirty dishrag.''

Lisa nodded, with her support Guts soon sat on the bed. He heaved, his body was mess; he was covered in open wounds from head to toe, they were small and large, deep and shallow. Guts had more holes than the fancy cheese he once ate at the Midland castle once. It unnerved him, but it his relief for simply being alive was far greater than that.

''Hey, kid,'' He paused in order to regain his breath, ''What are you even doing here, shouldn't you be with slash-happy, pretty boy?''

Lisa giggled at the nickname, ''I.. Uh, he's out on a errand in the nearby mines. He refused to take me with him, so I decided to take care of you instead.''

Guts' eyebrow shot upwards, ''He gave you permission to do that?''

Lisa averted her eyes, grinning wryly while she did so.

''Figures,'' Guts sighed, ''Look, kid-''

''-I'm not a kid, my name is Lisa,'' Lisa interrupted with compressed eyebrows.

Guts clucked his tongue, ''Kid, I don't care if you name is Lisa, Schierke, Theresia, Collette or whatever.''

Lisa puffed out her cheeks, ''But, it's polite to refer each other by name.''

Guts narrowed his eyes, ''Again, I don't give a damn.''

''You owe me. I cleaned your wounds for the entire time you were asleep, after you crashed into me. _Again_.''

''I don't owe you any-'' Guts halted in his words, ''I was asleep?''

''Yeah, about a day and half. You sure snore loudly, I wasn't gonna say it before, but since you're so rude..''

''Tell me something I don't know, next time you open your mouth to say something.''

''I _just_ did that,'' She said in a more agitated tone.

Guts flicked her forehead, Lisa recoiled rubbing her forehead as she narrowed her eyes at Guts. He then drew her towards her again, in preparation she covered her forehead and face, but the following forehead flick never came. Instead Guts planted his hand on her head carefully, as if he was handling a brittle object. Lisa gazed at him with a tilted head and questioning eyes.

Guts looked off to the side, ''Thanks.. For taking care of me,'' Those words came out almost inaudibly, as he gently ruffled her hair.

Lisa smiled wryly with a glint in her eyes, ''Could you repeat that?''

Guts retracted his hand instantly, his face turned sour, ''Hell no. Should've paid more attention, you dolt.''

''But, I couldn't make out what you said,'' She said with large glee as she inched towards him.

''Don't act dumb, you brat.'' He said, as he flicked her in face when she got too close, this time hard enough to knock her off her chair.

* * *

**!Scene Break!**

* * *

Luke Ainsworth clutched tightly onto on the torch that illuminated his path. Step by step he maneuvered around the stalactites that littered both ground, as well as the ceiling of the mines, his greaves dragged across the ground with lots of scratchy vibrations. The Erast mines were usually considered cramped and thereby a nightmare for anyone claustrophobic, but this section of the mines was the complete opposite from what Luke both heard and saw before.

His eye tracked his guide, an old man with a receding silver-like hair and a dirty denim overall. Luke could almost feel the tension radiate from his form, it left his mind at unease and tenseness. Every passing second the feeling of being watched rises within him, and every time he looked around him nothing seemed out the ordinary.

Feeling sick with dread, he finally decided to voice his displeasure.

''Uncle Orris, What's with this place? This isn't part of the mines, right?''

Orris Ainsworth made no effort to turn to his nephew as he answered him, ''Your glass eye is as sharp as ever, Luke.''

Luke groaned, whilst his eye danced around the blackness that his torch couldn't illuminate, ''Just answer the question.''

''Some weeks ago, one of the miners managed to stumble his way onto this place. Strange, no? A dead end, just poofing out of existence like that.''

''What did your worker stumble upon exactly?'' Luke's face felt like it was on fire, in turn he angled away the torch that he held too close to his face.

Orris stopped in his tracks, ''Spirits.''

Luke's eyebrows furrowed as he halted beside his uncle, ''Are you saying that Vanabil's power is starting to spread this far into the continent?''

''I'm afraid so, won't be long till he has it all under it's grasp. Won't be long that we get flooded with spirits either,'' Orris said with darkened eyes.

Luke gasped, ''Wait, What about your family then? Shouldn't you be getting out of Erast as soon as possible?''

''You know how they are, Luke. Anise is always stuck at home indulging her false research, I tell you if I don't drag out of the house she would never see the sun at all.'' Orris rubbed his temple with his hand, ''The town is about ready to evacuate soon, we're only still here because we haven't received any words from the neighboring kingdoms yet.''

''I see.. And Thyme, I figured he'd be glad with this new.''

''Thyme..'' He trailed off as his eyes grew more dim, ''Thyme is off in some military somewhere. Ever since my dear Rosemary died. Thyme is off in his own world thinking about nothing other than growing more powerful.''

''He still blames himself..'' Luke said softly.

''I don't blame him. I blame myself everyday, but I'm too old to be chasing revenge. At least that's what I think he's seeking.''

''For his own sake, I hope it's not.''

Orris rose his head and laid down his hand firmly on Luke's shoulder, ''We might evacuate towards the free trade city soon. So I might be able to finally appraise your skill with my own eyes.''

''Tch, really? I think I already had enough of your nosiness to last me a lifetime.''

''Oh, my boy. How you wound your old uncle,'' Orris clutched at his heart, crying tears of sadness.

''You don't fool me, you old phony.''

Orris stopped instantly, regarding Luke with a grin and tear stained eyes, ''I never thought I would.''

Luke simply shook his head as he began walking again, a smile encroached his face, but his uncle couldn't see that from this angle. As they continued through the darkness, Luke found it strenuous to continue the constant expenditure of energy, in fact breathing began to feel like a chore as well. Looking back at his uncle he saw that he already wore his goggles and tied a rag around his mouth and nostrils.

Luke handed him his torch and dug through his satchel, revealing his very own goggles and black cloth. In the blink of an eye he donned the needed protection and continued onwards, his lungs and eye early thanked him in response and traveling felt just as easy as it did before. With his torch in hand he went only deeper in the bowels of the Erast mines.

Eventually the sound of water caught Luke's ears, not so much a like stream. It was more akin to tiny droplets hitting a body of water every second or so. It was a comfortable sound, since for all the time he'd been walking, he only hear either his uncle's voice or his own. Soon his feet stopped, and Luke found himself staring in both awe and alarm. The entire area was an underground water reservoir that stretched as far as his one eye could behold.

Spirits resided this part of the cavern, they were plentiful and swum underneath the water's surface. Their white glow illuminated the cavern, it reflected against the stalactite on both the ceiling and ground creating a light show that was pulled right from someone's dreams. Even Orris marveled at the sight of them, however his grew more serious after a while and he turned towards Luke.

''Luke, do you have a spare tamahagane ore on you?''

''Yeah, why though?''

''Just do it, you'll see what happens when you do,'' Orris said with authority.

Luke dug in his satchel and grabbed a clump of tamahagane. The moment the ore came in contact with the air it began to crumble and turn to dust. Luke watched with wide eyes as the clump of minerals turned to powder and drifted through the air.

''Magic pollution,'' Luke concluded, once he regained from his stupor.

''Indeed it is, my boy,'' Orris said with sadness.

''You know what happens when spirits radiate so much magic pollution at once. The air grows stale and unbreathable, and our only reliable weapon against them turns to dust. Effectively rendering everything useless and the longer you breath the more chance it has to break you down from the inside.'' Orris' eyes lowered, ''I won't be able to supply you anymore with Tamahagane from this day onwards.''

Luke eye went downcast, his eyebrows scrunched together, ''I get it, old man.''

''I'm sorry, I can't help you any further.''

Luke gazed at the spirits in front of him, they floated on the air without any worries in the world. Luke knew that from now on his goal would become increasingly more difficult overtime and it scared to no end.

The entire continent - no the entire world counted on him, and the chance of him failing increased drastically. His fits clenched, and eventually he turns around and walks away.

* * *

**...**

* * *

The very moment Luke's feet hit the ground, it shook with fervor. Pebbles clattered over and again, the water spilled over, making small waves that knocked Orris right off of his feet. Luke's greaves were more than bulky enough in order to prevent him from being swept away from both the waves, as well as with the tremor of the earth. He fell to one knee as the tremors worsened. Luke's fear began to grow even further as heard the rock ceiling cracking above his head, with more water rushing down on them. His worry exploded in a wild amalgamation of fear agitation as he saw that the sound emanated from a stalactite above his downed uncle.

Luke forced his body to stand as the earth rumbled, ''Uncle, get out of there!''

''I'm trying, damn it!''

Trying his best to run, he couldn't even manage to make two steps before being uprooted by the combination of waves and tremors. The fluids soaked his clothes, giving him the painful reminder that the forces of nature held him captive.

The stalactites began to drop, the sound splashing resonated strongly within the cavern. Spirits were torn asunder by the falling rods, the waves increased in intensity flushing away Luke and Orris within them. Orris narrowly avoided having a stalactite stuck within his bowels. The ceiling above the reservoir crumbled unleashing a torrent of water that made Luke gulp.

The force of the wave flung Luke from one place to another, he felt himself submersing within the water. His lungs began to hurt as water rushed inside his body, Luke tried his hardest to fight back and swim towards the surface. His warped sense of direction warped combined with darkness inside this part of the cavern made impossible for him to discern where the surface was, or even where his uncle might be. More water rushed into his nostrils as his body yearns to breathe.

The youth spasmed and panicked, flailing his arms and legs everywhere, he lost strength quickly due to the weight of his greaves. He searched desperately for something, anything to hold on to. His hands found the sharp edges that protruded a nearby wall. It cut into his fingers instantaneously, but he felt no pain. Adrenaline coursed so vastly through his veins that the simple concept of pain did not even register in his mind. All Luke thought about is how he wanted to live, how he couldn't die now. He still needs to complete his ancestor's work and his father's along with it. If he died here, no one else would be able to take his place and the sacred knowledge he had will be lost forever.

He pulled himself closer towards the wall, but found that every effort took twice as much as energy than normal. The water weighed down on him tremendously, when he about to scale the wall upwards for air something caught him by surprise.

It was the spirits who were flushed away, just like him. Luke tried to scoot his way out of the direction it came from, but the multitude of spirits latched on and dragged him away from the only support he had.

Luke cursed his luck, his thoughts began to fade and keeping his eyelids open took him every ounce of energy. In the end, his eyes closed shut and he lost himself to the darkness.

* * *

**...**

* * *

''Lu..''

Luke's fingers twitched, he swore he heard something. Something familiar, something precious.

''Wa.. Up..''

All he saw was empty blackness around him, it made him feel even more lonely than he's used to.

''Bre.. Lu..''

A tinge of light broke through the darkness, Luke drew closer to that light. A warmth cascaded him, it was a nostalgic feeling to him.

''Luke! Luke!'' Lisa held his head in her hands after she disconnected from his face, tears dripping from her eyes.

He turned to his side and began coughing out all the excess water that had filled his lungs to the brim. He wheezed the air in quickly, it stung with pain. It was pain he was happy to endure, with each passing breath more strength returned to him.

''Lisa. How, what? I don't even..'' Luke managed to mumble coherently.

She didn't answer, she was too busy cradling his head in her small frame, pushing his hear against her moist clothes. She cried tears of happiness, as her fingers dug deep in Luke's wet hair. Luke simply couldn't think of doing anything other than breathing. The hot tears that contrasted his current body heat did distract, but he'd bear it. He didn't have the strength nor the heart to console her at the moment.

Guts shuffled onto the scene several minutes later, using his newly obtained crutches. His eyes fell on Luke, who was drenched from head to toe. He saw how he fought to simply keep breathing, it brought the former soldier a feeling of familiarity. Guts knew how it felt to be mother nature's plaything, so he could gaze at the youth with lowered eyelids and a face that expressed concern.

Guts noted how Luke's eye began to widen. His fingers push into the earth as sat upright, his hands clasped Lisa's shoulders, who was by this point still crying.

''Uncle. Uncle Orris, is he safe?''

Lisa blinked, her brows rose in confusion, as she sniffled, ''Orris? I saw only you in those mines, Luke. I didn't know someone else was with you.''

Luke's eye darkened and his mouth fell agape, he tried to say something. Guts stepped forwards a plethora of thoughts went through him, he however didn't voice any of those as he didn't know how to console someone. Guts simply watched with gritted teeth. Lisa tried to comfort Luke by hugging him, but he tore himself away from her kindness.

Luke's gaze fell to the ground, and his fist smashed the dirt.

''Orris is gone..''


	5. Defeature

_[4th Spark - Defeature]_

* * *

"Punk."

Luke Ainsworth held his tongue as he held his torch aloft. His eye scanned the darkness around him, ignoring the incessant soldier who traipsed behind him.

"Punk, we're done here. It's time to go," Guts spurred on as his voice echoed.

Guts watched as Luke halted in his tracks.

"Done?" He twisted his head over his shoulder. "Define, '_done_'?"

Guts' posture tensed as he observed the glint in Luke's eye. "We're done searching for your old coot. The entire gods damned village sought him for four weeks."

"So?"

"Erast is a bloody ghost town!" Guts clamored. "Everyone left, everyone said their goodbyes to your uncle, their homes and their friends! But here you are, Ainsworth. Do you intend to search for him till death drags you from this world? Till whatever horrors from this cavern abduct you, just like your old damn coot?"

"Then go! Go back to whatever musky hole you crawled out of, Guts!" The boy's finger pointed at him with a twitch.

Guts' forehead vein throbbed underneath his skin, while he stomped towards the adolescent.

"You know, I'd like nothing more than to just say '_fuck you_' and leave you to die in this bloody mine."

"Then what's stopping you?!" Luke met Guts' attempt of intimidation, his glass eye narrowed at the ex-soldier.

"That fickle creeper you call niece, the fact that you owe me a sword and the kid who keeps crying at night because she blames herself for _YOUR_ outlandish behavior."

Luke's eyelids jerked. "I owe you a sword?"

Guts' face began to redden. "I told you about a girl who cries every night in your stead, and the only thing that bothered you about that was my sword?!"

"So?! Do you think I feel freaking peachy?!" Luke yelled. "My uncle is dead, and the only thing I can think about is his face he was when he told me that he couldn't help me anymore."

Luke gritted his teeth. "His last words haunt me, Guts!"

Luke's voice rose in volume, as he gazed at the giant. "What do you know?! You _never_ say a word about yourself! For all I know, you could be a serial murderer and we would be none the wiser!"

The bulging vein in Guts' head slowed in its thumping. "I saved your life remember, the least you could do is humor me, punk."

"Oh, Get off your high horse, white knight Guts! I don't need your prissy bullshit!"

Guts began to gradually unfurl a smirk, "Says the pretty boy, who leaves everyone and everything in the dust the moment shit goes south."

"Then what the flying fuck do you want from me?!"

Guts grabbed Luke by collar of his dress shirt. "For you to collect those peas you call balls, and to MAN THE FUCK UP!"

Luke glances away, Guts felt the apprehension wafting off of the youth's skin. He gripped the collar tighter, causing Luke levitate in the air.

''You keep on thinking that I don't know what loss is? Believe me if you went through pocket-size portion of my life, it would leave you a broken man. Do you see me crying about it in a dejected man-cavern? No!'' Guts snarled.

He hoisted the youth upwards to meet him at equal height. ''You have people depending on you, this is no time to run from your responsibilities. The kid even has more balls for manning up for what she believed was her fault, and if you were to die here, she couldn't take that guilt.''

Luke's eyes drooped. ''I get it.''

''Do you really now? Or do need smack some sense into that thick skull of yours?''

Luke placed his hand firmly on Guts' arm. ''I get it. Now unhand me!''

Guts weakened his hold, the youth fell to his knees once the force of the fall met his legs. He preened his wrinkled shirt and combed back all the hair that obscured his eyes.

Guts turned on his feet and walked away.

After a minute, a second pair of footsteps resounded just behind him, the light of Luke's torch illuminated the path in front of Guts.

* * *

**...**

* * *

''We're back.''

Guts closed the door behind him after Luke strutted in to the room. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room was young woman who wore toga with a single one long sleeve, adorned with a long strip of red cloth spanning from her waist all the way to to legs. Red-leather turn shoes decorated her feet. She was nose deep into an encyclopedia that spanned the size of a Zweihänder. Guts would be surprised by how much reading material this woman consumed, if he hadn't been living with her for what he felt was a season worth of time.

Her long, light brown hair contrasted greatly against greenish, wooden structure. The girl snorted as she turned a page, even with her back turned towards Guts, he could already ascertain she blushing like a mad mad. Why was that? The fact the woman was rolling around on the floor like a giddy child certainly left _nothing_ to the imagination.

Guts was about to stop this ludicrous scene, but Luke was already miles ahead of him. His mouth went ajar when Luke's response to the issue was to punt the woman in the stomach. Hard.

''If you want to dust the floor, do it with a cleaning rad and not with your hair,'' Luke said as he clucked his tongue, giving the woman an all too familiar stink eye.

The woman coughed and hacked, while her features became only more and flushed. Her ashen eyes widen as she laid eyes upon her fellow kin, the young woman grinned from ear to ear and collected her bearings, knocking over one of her many _'food'_ piles. Within a split second, she pressed her face against his greaves. One could say that she was bound tighter to his legs than chains were on a slave's legs.

Lukey! Lukey!'' Water welled in her eyes. ''Bad! Totally bad, what were you thinking? Spending anymore time in that spirit-invested den.''

Luke sighed as gestured to the shortsword bound to his hips, ''I would have been fine. Courtesy of Tamahagane, remember?''

Guts snorted, ''Lukey. Like really?''

''Got a problem with that? It's a family thing.'' He retorted with a frown.

''Actually I kinda do. The sound of it makes my ears bleed faster than a woman on her special time of the month.''

''Tough shit, Guts. Do you see me care?.''

Guts rolled his eyes, midway through their cycle they met the girl's own pair. He spied how the woman's eyes narrowed at him, revealing a glint in her eye that unsettled him more than a silent battlefield. The woman lets Luke go and crawled slowly towards his vicinity. Guts' brows twitched as he saw how she exaggerated the movements of her hips, made breathy groans and pressed her arms together pushing her bust outwards. Her lips reddened as she bit them, inciting it to swell.

''Anise..'' Luke grumbled with a twitch of his eyebrow.

''I see. You brought him home didn't you, _Gutsy_?''

''Don't even start..'' Guts rubbed the bridge of his nose, while he backed off.

''Breakfast is ready you know.'' Anise purred.

The soldier averted his eyes, scanning the table in the corner. The table was filled with local delicacies, bread, eggs, cooked rabbit, goat milk, and lots of greens. His eyes went back to the girl who gave Guts a smile that made his sins crawl on his back.

''How do you like your eggs, Gutsy?'' She paused, ''I kinda prefer mine fertali-''

''I do hope you prepared my nice, hot cup of '_fuck this_' well, because I prefer it without a load of horse shit by the side.'' Guts interrupted.

Anise looked stunned for a moment, only return with sly look in her eyes, ''If you mean me with that, then that could be arra-''

''No! Woman, just no!''

Luke laughed loudly, clutching his sides without any shred of shame in his body, ''Oh lords above, if you could see the look on your own face.''

''Guess what? This stuff is really tiring..'' Guts sighed, as he stepped away from the woman, ''Why me of all people?''

''Well..'' Anise began, ''You kinda are the new, hot flavor of the week. One grows tired of seeing the same face over and again for the past nineteen years.''

''You act as if you've been staring at the same faces for over a millennium.'' Luke said with a bland expression.

''Well.. Maturity does come with age, doesn't it?'' The girl winked at Guts, and he in turn felt like vomiting out his insides.

''Explains why your still taken care of..'' Luke whispered.

''Hey! I heard that, little anvil!'' The woman reprimanded with gritted teeth, while still being on all fours.

''Okay, stop it with the ludicrous nicknames, I'm already seventeen. Besides I'm more of an adult you'll _ever_ be.''

The silence that followed carried lots of dread with, something with the flippant way Luke worded that carried a large volume of sharpness with it. The way sentence was worded was enough to make Luke wince when it reverberated back into his own awareness. Likewise, Guts felt his eyes reflexively looking away, since he had a good guess of what would come next.

_'Three.'_

_'Two.'_

_'One.'_

Tears spilled from Anise's eyes, similar to drizzly day on the plains. Sobs and hiccups soon followed, but despite the sob-show put in front of him. Guts felt more detached from the scene, than he felt he should be. In turn he didn't bat a single eyelid when Anise ran out of the room, tripping over her rediculously sized encyclopedia.

In that moment a high pitched yelp escaped someones lips, and a door slammed shut. The soldier was about to part his lips to ask the youth why he did what he did, but Lisa was already glaring daggers at the youth from the hallway. Luke hung his head downwards as he dragged feet into the direction Anise stormed off to. Lisa followed, muttering a silent apology towards Guts before trudging off.

''Guess I'll have more food for myself then..'' Guts said to none in particular as he took a seat and broke the shell of an hard boiled egg.

The echoes of Luke's many, many, _many_ apologies would never leave his eardrums _ever_ again.

* * *

**...**

* * *

''And there goes my appetite..'' Guts whispered as he approached Erast's humble graveyard.

The golden sun hung high in the sky, the gleams of light prickled his eyes in a bad way, forcing him to drag the hood of his cloak over his head. The grave-lands were dry and barren, and it seemed like not even a single grass stalk has sprouted here in a decade. Sand crunched underneath the soldier's boots as he passed a multitude of grave sites decorated with wooden crosses.

He looked onward towards the party in front of him. Anise took point, flanked by Luke to her left and Lisa trailing behind. Anise and Lisa each carried a large, self made flower bouquet filled to the brim with daisies, roses, buttercups, lilies and other types of flowers Guts hadn't even witnessed in his lifetime. With every step he took on the fields of the dead he felt more and more that he wasn't supposed to be here.

He remembered how he dug mass graves after each large scale battle, and dumped all the corpses in there indiscriminately. Regardless of whether they were his supposed allies or his enemies, and until now never bat an eyelid about it. Seeing Luke and Anise now made him wonder if any of the multitude of people who fought with or against him had families of their own.

The Band of the Hawk changed that perspective, albeit slightly but that group still did. Whenever they cremated their fallen Griffith would howl their names into the moon above, so they may never forget the person who stood by their side till the end. He wondered if any of them would curse him, for his actions at any point during his time in the hundred year war.

Guts felt a tug at the side of his large cloak, ''Hmm?''

Looking down, he saw Lisa holding rose in his direction, ''For me?''

The girl nodded and pressed the flower even closer to his hands. Guts accepted it and inspected the flower from all sides.

''Uhh.. Thanks, brat.''

''It's nothing big,'' Lisa mumbled with a grin.

''Kid, do you know what these spirits are?'' Guts voiced with an impassive look in his eyes.

Lisa's lips squeezed together tighter than he'd ever seen her doing at this point in time. As Guts waited her answer patiently, a single glance shows that her apprehension about the question was nearly overflowing. He nearly felt bad about asking her something that might have been quite personal in some way, _almost_ that is.. Since his curiosity outweighed his meager form of consideration.

''Well?''

''I'm not really sure if I should tell you..'' Lisa said somberly.

Guts shrugged. ''Well, I wasn't really sure about saving you lot, but I did so anyway.''

The blond haired girl went completely silent, fidgeting nervously with her fingers. She let out a deep sigh, before facing skywards.

''Spirits are.. _Us_, kinda- in some way.''

Guts eyed her incredulously.

''Not really, silly. But, they are what makes us. The soul, the self, our most purest origin.'' She said with a blank expression on her face.

The soldier nodded, ''If they are just what you say they are.. Then why can Luke or any other ordinary person perceive them? Aren't those supernatural things supposed to be veiled from us all..?''

''Because they actually aren't supposed to be here anymore, the spirits were supposed to move on eons ago. In turn the magical pollution in the air increases making the area harder for humans to live in. Magic particles tend to hate physical matter after all.''

Guts folded his arms, ''What keeps them here then..?''

Lisa scratched her cheek, ''I couldn't tell you even if I knew.''

''Do you know?''

Lisa's face scrunched up, ''Of course I don't, I wouldn't lie.''

Guts' eyes examined Lisa's face thoroughly, checking for masked deceit and lies. What he didn't expect is that the normally shy girl would meet his gaze with resolve of her own, and in that moment Guts saw something of himself back in violet eyed girl. The fact he managed to chuckle without his notice didn't surprise him in the slightest. However, her secrecy made him wary, perhaps in the future he should seek the answers himself.

The soldier's stomach grumbled in wails, and he focused his attention back the flower he held in his grasp. Lisa eyes bulged open, as Guts inserted the flower in his mouth and ate it whole.

''What are you doing?!''

Guts eyed the girl quizzically, ''What? I was hungry..''

Lisa eyebrows knitted together, ''You don't eat flowers!''

''What about herbs? Those are some type of flower too. You can eat those.'' The soldier retorted with a shrug.

''But a rose isn't a herb!''

''Could you two shut it for two seconds?'' Luke gnarled, ''We're on a graveyard, have some respect for the dead.''

Luke sharply paced forwards, creating a rift between himself and the group. Lisa blushed, muttering her apologies under her own breath. She hastened her pace in her attempt to match Luke's gait. Eventually Guts and co reached their destination. One of the very few rows tombstones on the graveyard. They passed by most them, which were designated to the more important people, the mayors of Erast. However Luke stopped by one of them and the rest followed suit.

_Here lie the brave, strong and dauntless miners of Erast. May their souls find peace within the skies._

A memorial stone for every deceased miner from whenever period in Erast's history. Luke said that the village of Erast held their miners in high acclamation, whenever something threatened their homes, the miners would act as the first line of defense from the threat. An act which Guts held a shred of respect for. It wasn't easy to put yourself in harm's way, even more so when one has a family to lose.

Guts stood behind the three, simply watching as the women laid down their bouquets and spread the flowers around the memorial stone. Luke crouched to one knee and planted one of his shortswords in the dirt.

The boy's voice quivered as rose to his feet, ''It ain't no sacred sword, but I hope this may do, uncle.''

The soft sounds of Anise's sobbing filled the air around them, eliciting the youngest comfort the older girl. Guts felt more an intruder than ever before, as an outsider he knew nothing concerning to the person they were mourning, however, the way they did it is what stood out to him though.

As Guts continued to stare at the backs of the three, he wondered.

_'Would the Band of the Hawk mourn me like this, if I were to die?'_

* * *

**...**

* * *

''What do you mean I can only take a portion of all my books!'' Anise bellowed with gritted teeth, her eyes nearly popping out of her sockets.

Luke and Guts sighed simultaneously, Guts ruffled his short black hair before stating the obvious, ''You'll kill the horses sooner than the black plague with all that needless weight.''

Luke massaged his forehead, ''Hate to say it, but he has a point. Besides we're already loaded up on Tamahagane and enough provisions to make us last this trip back to the city. There just isn't enough space for your.. _literature_.''

''You're actually kidding me, aren't you! No way in hell, will I abandon any of my lovely friends for your worthless ore.''

Guts gazed at the mountain of tomes scattered on dirt, never before had he witnessed so many books in the same place. He even thought she could have an more books than Midland's royal library, and that place was full of it. If these books are supposed to be her friends, than she treated her friends with lots of neglect, since some of those books were even moldy and corrupted with bugs.

''This is why you have no actual friends, Anise.'' Luke commented, ''You give way too much value to your petty novels, than to your own kin.''

She fell silent after Luke voiced his opinion. The feisty, flirtatious girl slumped her shoulders, seemingly giving up the struggle that took way longer than it needed to be.

''Can we go back for them someday..?'' She asked quietly.

Luke let out a silent scream of frustration, ''Fine! We'll get them someday soon, just hide them nearby.''

Anise beamed and strutted to a beige chest, she motioned for Luke and he cursed himself as he helped her load in her books.

Shrugging his shoulders, the soldier continued to load in the final pair of crates in the carriage along with his own personal supplies. He made sure to leave just enough space for himself within the cargo hold. No way in everything that was sacred, would he be seated next to Anise longer than a second. The cargo hold filled with Tamahagane seemed like a much more pleasant place to him.

Before the soldier knew, he examined the carriage for any faults that might cause setbacks on the road. It was a habit that saved his behind many times before, and he couldn't thank Judeau enough for showing him what to look for: Splintered wheels, weak chassis, holes in the waterproof tarp and strained reins for the horses. However, despite his low expertise of the art of Carriage-craft, he concluded that the wagon was in a well-enough shape to at least survive this trip.

Circling to the front, he found Lisa attending the three horses strapped to the carriage, she seemed at peace as she fed them a handful of hay and fingered their manes with dedication and care.

''They ready for the trip?'' Guts wondered out loud as he gazed at the equines.

''As ready as they can be, I suppose,'' Lisa stroked one of the steeds.

''So are Ainsworth and I, everything is loaded up and ready to go,'' Guts paused whilst he scratched his chin, ''Wherever we're going that is..''

Lisa smiled wryly, ''We're departing for home, the Independent Trade City of Housman.''

Guts grimaced, ''The what?''

''The city of Housman.''

''What?''

''A city, Guts.''

''What's a city?''

Lisa mouth dropped, words seemed to be caught in her throat as she kept on stuttering. Guts stared at her with no discernible expression written across his features. She let the reins of the horses go and stepped closer towards him.

''You.. don't know what a city is?''

''Yeah..''

''Where are you even from?''

''Lived in a kingdom all my life.''

''But never saw a city before?''

''Nope.''

''Really?''

Guts nodded.

''Really? Like really, really?''

He nodded again.

The girl seemed bewildered, ''Don't know whether I should feel sorry for you or not..''

''You might start by telling me what a _'city'_ even is,'' Guts conveyed with a stern look.

Lisa's expression shifted, ''I- It's- See it as a huge town of some sort, where there are large markets every day instead of once a month.''

Guts stroked his chin as he looks off to the distance, ''I'd like to see something like that.. Are there lots of swords to buy?''

''More than you can imagine,'' Lisa smirked.

''Good. Let's get out of this dust heap then and into this.. Uh, _'city'_.''

Lisa broke eye contact and dug her fingers within the satchel she wore on her hips, after a bit she gradually lifted a sword hilt with a broken piece of steel attached to it. Guts recognized it as his life companion, with ample speed he snatched it from the girl. Guts couldn't suppress the glee on his face.

''It is only right that you have this back,'' She winked.

He nodded and sheathed the hilt in the scabbard he wore on his back, for some reason he felt more at ease with the added weight on his back.

Lisa vaulted onto carriage and grappled the reins, ''Could you get them for me, it's about time we left after all.''

Guts needn't hear that twice, he paced away from the carriage and made way to where he last saw that beige chest. Yet when he arrived in the garden of the Ainsworth household he found none, no Luke and no overly, zealous Anise. Shrugging his shoulders he paced around the small village, along the way he passed the smithy and with curiosity he entered the store hoping to find a replacement for his broken greatsword.

Yet, all he found was dust, wood, mold and a horrid stench permeating the entire structure. It unsettled the soldier greatly, it was as if someone left a lot perishable food to rot for years and years. An unnatural chill descended his spine and his paranoia woke because of it, he swore that the entire structure was breathing in some way, shape or form. He pinched his nose shut and left that places faster that he expected he would, not bothering look back even once.

In the center of the village he saw Luke draping his body idly against the chest and facing the the noon sun, beside him was a crater and pile of dirt by the side of it. Occasionally, a bundle dirt flies toward it's larger brethren and panting filled the skies. Luke wrenched his head to side as he heard Guts approach.

''Can we depart for Housman?''

Guts nodded, ''The kid says she done, and so am I.''

Luke sighed before he hoisted himself back to his feet, ''Good, scenery was getting dull anyway.''

The youth paced towards the man-made crater, ''Anise get ready to receive that chest of yours, okay?''

''Yeah, yeah,'' The girl grumbled.

''Help me out here, would ya?'' Luke asked as he motioned toward the chest.

Guts obeyed wordlessly, the sooner this thing was over with, the sooner he could be out on the road again. He lifted one end of the chest by it's handle and Luke lifted the other, the chest was quite heavy but nothing Guts hadn't dealt with before. Swinging a large greatsword did wonders for one's muscular strength, Luke on the other hand struggled to lift his end of the bargain, his face went flushed as he positioned himself by the crater. He gradually lowered his side of the chest into the hole and lets go soon after, the boy crashed to the ground while panting in relief.

Anise's voice sounded strained as she spoke, ''Okay, Guts. could you lower your side too?''

Guts complied, he dropped to one knee and let gravity draw the chest into the earth.

Slowly but, surely..

...

Anise screamed and chest violently lurched forwards, nearly dragging Guts inside of the bowels of the crater. His arm hung over the edge, his hand clasped tightly around the chest's handle. Luke shot up from his fatigued posture and crawled to Guts' side, securing him by his ankles.

''Talk to me, Anise! What the hell is going on!'' Luke yelled.

''The ground collapsed in! Help! Please! Help me!''

''Fuck!'' The boy cursed, ''Pull her out of there, Guts!''

Guts forced all of his might into his arms, he felt the chest dragging against the dirt and inching upward, but Anise's counter weight made it nearly unattainable to drag it out by his own strength. The soldier's fingers burned hotter than a candle and pain is seeping through every pore of his skin.

''I can't, it's too goddamn heavy!'' Guts yelped, ''Pull me out of there, you godforsaken dunce!''

''Will do that the very moment you grow some goddamned wings on your back! Of course I can't, I can barely support you as it is!''

Anise's panic aggravated with every passing moment, her pleas of help turned into wails of fear. She kept on mentioning how she couldn't hold on for much longer, and swayed her body in a blind frenzy.

''Anise, I need you to pull yourself upwards and grab a hold of my arm!'' Guts hollered as he bit the inside of his cheek.

''I can't! I can't! I'll fall!''

''Anise! You must do this or you will fall and die! I can't hold on to you and that thing!''

Gingerly the weight of the chest shifted back and forth, moaning, panting and yelping were released in blur, until Anise managed to dig her nails into Guts' arm securing herself against his limb. Instantly, Guts dropped the chest and his fingers breathed hard, as if they had been suffocated for years. The echoes of the chest's impact echoed through the soldier's skull as he hoisted Anise back to the surface. The woman jumped into his arms began bawling like child, uncaring of Guts' sentiments on her action.

While her tears wettened his cloak, the soldier only felt the heat left in his hand. Every heartbeat of Anise resounded deeply into his flesh until his alertness began to settle. Hesitantly, the girl let go and she stuttered an earnest '_thank you_'. Luke flanked in to hug his niece, and the soldier gazed at this scene fondly recalling his own happier times.

Until the ground trembled..

The three rose up in an instant, taking care not to lose their balance and tumble right into the gaping hole. They gave each other a questioning glance before Luke peered over the very spot the tremors seemed to come from. He turned swiftly back to the rest with terror filled eyes.

''SPIRITS, RUN!''

Grabbing Anise by the wrist, Luke tugged her into motion. Guts found himself mesmerized by the scene at hand, unconsciously ignoring the girl's cries to run. Translucent beings glimmering a white light poured from the crater and spilled into the sky. Their veil of light seems to extend, as if it were tasting the clean skies for the first time. The spherical beings seemed to direct their attentions to the lone human either brave or foolish enough to remain.

Guts stared, a bead of sweat rolled down his armpits making him shudder. The beings returned the same sentiment until their veil of white began consuming the surrounding area. Shrapnel took into the skies as the small crater showed cracks and scars. The sounds of breaking earth was enough to send his mind over the edge.

Guts briskly turned on his heels and bolted.

The moment he did, the crater expanded twice-fold and town came crashing down. Earth sundered underneath his feet, but he took no moment to look back to see if the spirits gave chase, or if the ground beneath his feet was actually crumbling away. His heart pounded in his ears and adrenaline filled his bloodstream.

In the distance he was able to discern the cries of fearful horses among the static of crumbling rock. Luke and Anise were five arm-lengths away, chasing something. Guts' legs burned, his body told him to catch his breath, but his mind vehemently denied. Repeating the threat of death over and again in his mind.

By now only woods surrounded him and he inched closer and closer to the pair and carriage.

''Lisa let us on!'' Luke screamed.

''I can't stop the horses! They won't listen!''

''You had one job, damn it!'' Guts roared.

''Sorrryyyyyyyyy..'' Her voice trailed off as the horses seemed to increase in speed.

''Pull hard at the reins! Just try to make them stop!'' Luke yelled once again.

Lisa seemed to obey Luke's not-so-friendly suggestion, since the horses slowed down tremendously. Luke didn't waste this opportunity and managed to practically throw Anise in the carriage, he followed suit almost instantly.

Luckily, Luke took over the reins and slowed the cart down more than enough for the soldier to hop on easily. Sadly, he crashed just next to Anise. She already eyed him in a creepily.

''So.. Do you crash in here often?''

''Not now, woman.''

Looking back at Erast, Guts only witnessed a cracks on the road and a large white veil obscuring his view of the mining town. He needn't look twice to know that Erast is dead now. The spirits own that place, no human being would be able to set foot in that place for a very long time.

Guts stared at the cracked road as they rode off towards the city.

He felt..

Defeated.


	6. Disjuncture: Part 1

_[5th Spark - Disjuncture: Part 1]_

* * *

_Why me? Why do you have to look at me of all people?!_

Cecily swallowed down the large lump of saliva jamming her throat. She tried her hardest not to quiver as she was forced to look onto the scarred face of her commanding officer. The bald giant had broke his gaze and puffed out his chest.

''That's all rookies. Collect your pendants and swords, and go patrol wherever you feet carry you. Dismissed.''

The platoon of rookies collectively straightened and salute their commanding officer, before splitting off their own cliques inside the building. Cecily caught her breath again and she could rest her hand on her treasured family sword. Her body was glistening with sweat, her black tunic stuck to her silver and gold armor. It itched on spots that most people would raise their brows for.

''Sorry there, sissy. I had to pick someone as an example,'' He grinned.

''Please don't ever do that again, Ser Quaser.''

''C'mon, sissy. You know me longer than this, no need to be so _goddamn_ formal,'' He gave her slap on the back and nearly caused Cecily to careen forwards.

''Ser.. Qua- Er.. Hannibal, please. Stop with using baby names. It's embarrassing, I lead the Cambell family now,''

''Oh, cram it. I only take orders from Chester and you're still far from where he was.''

''Hey! I take offense to that! I'm not incompetent,'' The armored maiden crossed her arms and puffed out one cheek.

''You were shaking in your greaves, woman.''

An eyebrow rose, ''You saw that?''

''Why else did I went through the motions of blocking you from the rest from the rookies, with my own body no less.''

''Oh..'' Cecily went pink.

Hannibal snickered. ''Relax, you're not fighting in the war. It's just a boring ol' mundane patrol, until the raid that is.''

Cecily slapped away her red locks in front of her eyes, ''You're right. Why was I so tense anyway? It's not like I had been dreaming from this day since I was toddler or anything.''

Hannibal seemed not amused by Cecily's sarcastic bark, ''Go get your pendant.''

Feeling that further banter was no longer needed, she stepped within the building. Inside, wood covered the interior and it was the focal point of the entire room. Wooden chairs, wooden bars, wooden tables, wooden floor boards; wood, wood and even more _wood_. It was monotonous for her to look at, across of the entrance was an entire row of guards waiting for their turn at something. A hand's length away she saw several of those guards leaving with a pendant hanging from their necks.

It wasn't much of stretch but the line was probably to receive her knight guard pendant, Cecily maneuvered her way through the stream of rookie guards until she unceremoniously bumped into one of them by accident.

Cecily held her hand out in front of her, ''Oops. Do please excus-''

Her words stilled as she looked at _him_. The Knight Guard pendant swayed on the man's neck; the brown haired fellow looked down on Cecily.

''Well, well, well. Look who made it through bootcamp,'' A look of contempt filled his eyes.

Cecily's squinted and her lips sagged, ''Reginald.''

''I guess the Knight Guard has really fallen, if they accept trash like you.''

Cecily's eyebrows twitched. She bit the inside of her cheeks, her fists itched to deck him in the jaw. But now was not the time for that, not when her superior officer was just meters away, not when other rookies were there. She's worked too hard for this, to lose it would not be worth it.

''Congratulations on getting in, Reginald,'' The words tore at her pride.

The man smirked, ''Why of course. It was fate that led me to be the best of this batch. And it's fate that will kick you out of this guard, Cambell. Do be wary of your destiny.''

Reginald stepped out of the building, but not before tapping on Cecily's shoulder with the same look of disdain on his face. Cecily wiped the hand print from her shoulder cauldron and stood in line. Once it was her own turn, she stood face to face with her childhood friend and now senior colleague, Patty Baldwin. While she still wore a uniform befitting of the Knight Guard, it seemed a lot more comfortable to Cecily than her current cumbersome armor. White short sleeved dress shirt, a sleeveless silver blazer with the Knight Guard emblem embroidered on her chest and dark blue flowing skirt that reached past her knees.

Her outfit did well to highlight Patty's pale skin, clear glasses, petite features, reddish lips and her golden brown hair and eyes. Cecily couldn't detract her attention from her birthmark just below her lips. She looked _really_ well today, like better than she looked_ ever_.

''Cecily? You can stop staring you know, you're kinda in line and all that.''

''Huh?'' Cecily snapped out of her daze, she immediately stiffened as the eyes of the recruits behind and next to her glared back.

Her cheeks turned rosy, ''Ah! Uh, my pendant please!''

Patty giggled, ''One pendant coming, right up.''

The girl dug through the the plethora of boxes behind her and handed Cecily a smaller box and a sheathed sword. Cecily accepted the smaller box but returned the standard Knight Guard longsword. Patty gave her a questioning glance.

''I have all the sword I would ever need right here,'' Cecily tapped the saber interlinked to her hip.

Patty winked at her. ''Oh I get it, trying to show off your family sword, eh? You sure though? It wouldn't hurt to have two blades on you?''

Cecily laughed and stuck out her tongue. ''But dearest Patty, I cannot wield two of them at once. My foes won't stand a chance.''

''Okay, okay Go get them, tiger.''

Cecily clutched tightly onto the pendant box.

''I will.''

* * *

**...**

* * *

''My, my Cecily. How the youth have grown.''

Cecily's chest swelled with pride as she spoke to the local shop owner. Until his wife slapped him straight across his head. The old man rubbed his head, his cheeks flushed and his smile crooked.

''Where were you looking at, you sly old coot!'' The tone of the old woman suggested that it wasn't a question.

The old man averted his gaze, ''Hehe.. Sorry.''

Only now did Cecily realize where he was looking. She yelped and instantaneously covered her bosom and turned away, causing most onlookers and the old couple themselves to howl with laughter. Cecily didn't find it endearing at all.

Wails of agony burst from the throngs of people somewhere in dense market, Cecily's ears zeroed in on the sound. Her chest tightened in response, her hand reflexively went to her family sword but her hand went numb from the cold cloth fabric on the hilt. Cecily faced the shop owner and asked him to remain in doors until she and her colleagues fixed whatever issue was ongoing. He didn't protest and took his wife by the arm, the other onlookers either fled to safety or foolishly tried to learn what was going on, despite Cecily's protests.

She just had to protect them when the time came, her silver greaves clashed against the concrete pavement as she ran against the crowd of fleeing citizens. Her body was thrashed around but she kept up momentum till she finally arrived.

A giant of man with black short hair and a brown cloak was fending off an older man, who wore a set of iron armor and wielded a fat broadsword. The giant was using a sheet of metal repel the sword strikes. Cecily was about to jump into the fray, till she saw two recruits from earlier howling in anguish as they held on to the stumps which once were their arms and legs.

Cecily nearly fainted at the sight, her armor clattered along with her shivering body. Nonetheless she stepped forward, quivering as she went.

''S- Stop this!'' Her voice cracked as she forced it out.

''Ghaaaah!'' The older man ignored her as he swung his broadsword overhead.

The giant caught the blade with the sheet of metal, he didn't seem uncomfortable in the least but he wasn't having the best day of his life, because he was cursing as colorfully as time passed by.

The giant peered at the girl, it almost seemed like he was disappointed, ''Could you stab the old geezer in the back for me. Cause I can't keep this up unarmed.''

Cecily ignored his blatant call for manslaughter, ''A true knight swings his in order to protect, not kill! Lay down your sword and you won't be harmed!''

The giant kicked the old man in stomach causing him disengage his sword, ''Woman! Are you daft!? He won't listen, just put blade in his neck and end this crap.''

Cecily stood her ground, she drew her blade from her scabbard, ''My name is Cecily Ethellyn Cambell, First squire of 20th platoon of the Houseman Knight Guard. I order you to stand down, or I _will_ use deadly force!''

''He doesn't give a shit about your twenty names-!'' The giant ducked underneath a sideways swing, it cut his black spikes several millimeters shorter, ''Use all the goddamn force you need, dammit!''

''Where is it?! My salvation, I waited for so long?!'' The old man's eyes were bloodshot, sickly almost.

He lunged for Cecily, she barely registered his movements, her blade blocked his blow but the strength behind his swing made her stumble. When she regained her balance he was readying the next attack, she held her sword out protectively but the broadsword easily ate through Cecily's family sword, cutting it clean in half and sent the blade flying.

Cecily shook in place until the old man backhanded her, causing her to careen to the ground and lose hold of her broken sword. She found herself staring at the broken half of her sword, embedded in a wooden box.

_My.. The family sword.._

''**WHERE IS IT?!**''

Her body tensed as the bloodcurdling scream made its way to her eardrums. Cecily stared at the edge of the broadswords as it increased in size. She saw herself being split in half, she felt the pain overwhelming her, she imagined how the life flowed from her body, she saw the mangled mess of her cleaved face.

She saw death.

Until a spark emanated from the sword that wanted her life. A thinner, sleeker, curvier blade wedged itself inside the broadsword, carving its way through it. The old man watched in horror as his broadsword was reduced to a hunk of unwieldy metal, tears welled in his eyes and snot dribbled down his pale beard.

Cecily met the eyes of young man, she could only describe his features as gallant, knight-like and dapper. His brown hair glimmered, his face was guarded and his eyes were as blue as sapphire.

Somehow, he looked everything but happy.

The eyes of Cecily home in on the craftsmanship of the blade and soon realized that it was a type of sword she hadn't ever seen before. It's design, curvature, the edge, hilt. It all felt so foreign, but it looked effective. It looked as if the sword could cut anything with ease.

The young man dashed in, smashing the hilt of the blade on top of the old man's nose. A wet crunch made Cecily cringe, the old man howled in agony.

The youth nodded to someone. ''Guts, he's free game.''

A sweeping kick brought the bleeding old man to the ground. The giant of a man, Guts, stood to full height. He pressed his boot against the old man's temple.

Guts pulled his head away with upturned eyebrows. ''Gods, this old deadbeat smells like shit.''

''Your problem not mine,'' The youth wiped the edge of his blade on his forearm before sheathing it.

''Do thank you, oh gracious hero, Lukus the dick.''

Luke snorted.

The several knight guards drew near the scene. Guts allowed them to take the incapacitated vagrant, grumbling about their lateness. Cecily watched as they took away the old man to whatever murky cell there was left in the city.

She turned to Luke, inadvertently smiling as she stood.

''I thank you. Without you I would- Aaah!''

Cecily plopped down to the pavement once again, her legs spasm against her will. Luke looked down on her, a sigh escaped his lips.

''You should consider to quit being a knight guard.''

Somehow the words didn't quite reach her. She thought he would answer her thanks with niceties of his own or at least some compliments on her bravery. Not this blatant rejection, not this disjuncture of feelings that welt her mind and body. Cecily felt her blood boil.

''What?!'' Her tone was sharp.

Luke seemed unfazed. ''No one could bother relying on you. As you are now, you're a liability.''

''I am not, a liability!'' Cecily stood tall, her fists quivering.

Luke gazed at her momentarily, he shook his head after he saw the state of her fists.

''Heh, try it. No, no, I dare you,'' Luke crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed, ''You can't lay a finger on me.''

Her fists were itching. She could see herself smashing his jaw to splinters, pulling that tuft of brown hair he had and-

Guts plopped his hand down on Luke's shoulder, in turn the youth scoffed under his breath and walked away.

The tall man was about to say something, but he kept his tongue and trailed after Luke. In that same moment a little, blond haired girl paced after them. The girl carried around a pile of books larger than she was and she stopped in front of Cecily, causing the rookie knight to relax.

The little lady bowed, after leaving the book pile on the ground. ''Please excuse Luke and Guts, they aren't really good with people.''

She turned, grabbed the pile and ran after them. ''Wait up! Wait for me, please! I can't walk this fast with all these books!''

_Luke and Guts, huh.._

Once Cecily snapped out of her train of thought she saw the blood of her fellow rookies, one of them already dead. She plucked her broken family sword from the wreckage the fight left behind. The shocked, disturbed and mournful faces of the people who lost others whom they loved, was more than just apparent to her. She paced towards her fallen colleague and lifted him into her arms.

As she stared into his hollow and soulless eyes, she wondered.

_If I would've been here sooner, would I've made a difference..? Could I have saved you?  
_

* * *

**...**

* * *

The lingering burn on her face made her feel even worse than she did beforehand. The door slammed shut in front of Cecily and she could catch muffled sobbing of the deceased rookie's mother behind it. The rookie knight's fiery eyes went dark, her shoulders slumped and the faded specks of blood on her gloves became all the more noticeable.

''I.. I messed up, didn't I, Patty?''

She whirled Cecily towards her, Patty's eyes red and puffy. ''There was nothing you could do. This is a line of duty where everyone can and might die.''

''But..''

_But maybe I should quit being a Knight's Guard, after all.._

''No.'' Patty prodded at the red mark on Cecily's cheek. The recipient winced. ''Sorry bout that. I think you're brave for even doing what you did. The man who did this, Jack Strader. He was insane, driven mad by the horrors he witnessed in the War. There was no way any of today's rookies would be able to best him.''

Cecily nodded, she knew that Patty was right. There was no perceivable way that rookies fresh from bootcamp training could hold a candle against a man who fought in the War, who had taken life and saw life being taken.

''He'll get what he deserves. There is no way he'll leave that dungeon with his head still attached to his body.''

Patty placed both of her hands on Cecily's cheeks, turning her face towards Patty's puffy eyes.

''That woman had no right to slap you. I get that she was overwhelmed after hearing about her son's death, but you're just the messenger.''

Cecily forced herself to smile with her eyes and slip out her tongue. ''Don't shoot the messenger.''

''Exactly!'' Patty ruffled Cecily hair.

She stopped, her eyes squeezed to together narrowly. ''Cecily. You still have to prepare a weapon for the raid.''

''I know. Let's go fix my sword,'' Gloved fingers curled around her sword's hilt.

With a nod of Patty's head. They went, the rookie knight looked back once more to the home of the fallen soldier.

A soft squeeze on her arm brought her back on her path, with the smithy on her mind.

* * *

**...**

* * *

''I'm sorry, missy. I can either reforge the metal or smelt it into a knife for ye.''

A frown was smeared on the leader of the Cambell family. Her gloved hands grasped the hilt with quivers, Cecily squeezed her eyes into a thin line. In the background oil fizzled loudly as one of the smithy's assistants cooled a red-hot blade. The heat was almost unbearable.

''No. This is special to me, it won't be the same if you reforge or smelt it.''

_It's the only thing I have left of dad._

The smith wiped the sweat off of his brow. Inside the smithy it was a warm as a furnace, Patty kept huffing and puffing while she fanned herself with her hand. A tap on Cecily's shoulder made her whirl to her companion.

''You could.. Take.. One.. Of the.. Knight guard.. Standard issue blades..'' Patty wheezed between words.

_If only I could have a blade like that Luke had.._

The rookie knight bit on her lips, she sheathed her sword hilt. For her, using any other blade than the one her father passed down to her would be an insult to him or his sacrifice, to all the time he spent training her from scratch in the last years. Memories of sweat, blood and tears came crashing down on her. She never beat him, but despite the fact he always won. He never gloated about it, always remaining light of heart and proud of each improvement she made.

She let out a toothy grin, while her heart felt as heavy as steel.

''Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I probably should.''

Patty tilted her head, after a moment she shrugged and nodded.

A chime filled the smithy's workplace. A man lowered his head in order to pass through the doorway, he grumbled as he manged to clip the back of his head regardless. Patty let out a inaudible _'ah' _when he approached the counter.

''Give me your largest greatsword,'' His voice was gravely.

Cecily squinted, ''You're.. The man from earlier.. Gu- Guts, right?''

From the corner of his eye he glanced at her, Cecily couldn't decipher him. She considered herself to be a rather good judge of character, but his face was wafted of indifference and vexation. Heck, if she didn't knew better his face resembled a giant, scarred crease.

''What?!'' Guts' tone was akin to a knife.

''Ah.. Uh, T- T- Th-..''

''Spit it out, twenty.''

_Twenty?_

Cecily took a shallow breath, ''Thanks for trying to apprehend that vagrant, you've saved a lot of lives.''

His face scrunched together, he turned his head to the smith who rubbed his messy short hair with a weary smile.

''I'm sorry, sir.. We're not permitted by law to sell weapons of any kind to travelers without permit.''

Guts' face went foul, as if smelling something that irked him beyond anything.

''By whom? I've visited three godforsaken smithy's in this.. _City, _who holds a damned monopoly on arms in this.. _Free-trade city_?''

''Us Knight Guards do,'' Patty said, her eyes met Cecily's briefly.

A moment of silence passed, where Guts stared at the smithy, Cecily and Patty respectively. He grumbled, seemingly being deep in thought. As the rookie knight looked at her companion, she saw a smirk appear on her face.

''Say? Guts, was it?''

Guts rose a brow, ''Hm?''

''We could supply you with a weapon of your preference. See, due to that unfortunate incident we're on less manpower than needed.''

''You want to me to be your hired sword, no?''

Patty clapped her hands together, ''You catch on quick! Yes, in return we can give you a permit and you can re-arm yourself at our armory.''

''Wait Patty,'' Cecily's voice was firm.

''What? Do you wish to pluck my heart and tongue as well?''

''No.. I mean, kinda? I need to pick your mind. You know that gentleman, right. Luke?''

''So what I if do?'' Guts' posture was guarded.

''His sword? Where did he get it.''

''He made it himself.''

Cecily grinned and met Guts' eyes for the first time since they spoke.

''You can have your sword, and I can have mine. We just need to work together on this, Guts.''

* * *

**...**

* * *

A soft breeze whisked away the moisture on Cecily's forehead, Guts trudged ahead and Patty was just steps behind. Above them the giant, ash cloud stirred. Blair Volcano always unnerved Cecily to no end, if it weren't for the mass amounts of spirits swirling within forest, The entire City of Housman would've been buried in ash long ago. Sometimes it startled her how much of her life she took for granted, and it were small moments like these that made Cecily Cambell appreciate the state of her home all the more.

Guts stopped when they crossed a small bridge, the sounds of a river ran in her ears.

''Seventh house on the end of the path, just before the entrance Ash Forest.''

Cecily nodded, as she turned her head towards him.

''Aren't you coming?''

Guts' brows twitched, ''No.''

''I see..'' Cecily fell silent for a bit, ''Thank you, I'll carry on from here.''

''Don't you worry Cecily, I'll deal with the paperwork,'' Patty nudged Guts, ''Heya! Smile a bit, we're gonna get that sword for ya.''

Guts growled.

''Suit yourself,'' Patty shrugged, ''Don't be late, Cecily. The raiding squad need everyone to be there.''

''Right. I'll be there ASAP.''

Patty and Guts turned away and their footsteps echo into Cecily's ears, she could her the faint mummers of their conversation.

''So what's with your name'?''

''It's none of your business.''

''There must be some epic, bloodcurdling, exciting meaning behind it, right?''

''It means shut up.''

''You're no fun!''

Cecily giggled as her greaves scratched against the cobblestone surface with each step. A rather fanciful cottage stood solemnly, surrounded by the greens of the forest and the grass. It almost acted as a boundary from civilization to nature. Silver smoke wafted from the shed behind the cottage.

_That looks like a smithy's home, alright.._

As she knocked on the silver wood that comprised the door, she saw a sign hammered above the doorway, _Lisa._

She heard the pitter-patter of feet closing in on the doorway. Cecily rose a brow as she stood face to face with a brown haired girl, still dressed in her negligee, even though the city's sundial was at two when Cecily left. The girl yawned and rubbed her eyes, the abundance of visible tanned skin made Cecily blush.

''Gutsy?'' She mumbled.

Cecily fidgeted, ''Uh.. Does Luke live here?''

The girl puckered her lips, and she seemed to think long and hard.

''Uhm..'' Cecily's mind pulled a blank.

Another pair of feet echoed throughout the cottage, floorboards squeaked. Cecily hear a man's voice telling the girl to get back inside.

''But Guts-'' Before she could finish, an arm tugged her behind the door.

Luke took her place, he smiled apologetically with his eyes closed.

''I'm terribly sorry for my niece. She's not well in the..''

When Luke opened his eyes Cecily felt herself freeze up. Somehow, somewhere she thought that the whole lead Guts gave would amount to nothing. But seeing him here, right in front of her. His eyes meeting hers, made her forget what she sought in the first place.

''You.''

She waved, ''Hi.''

His brows furrow as he tapped his feet.

''Luke, right? Luke Ainsworth?''

Luke nodded wordlessly, his eyes narrowed, ''Why are you here?''

Cecily took a deep breath, her goal, the katana sprung up in her mind.

''Fashion me a katana like yours, a sword among swords.''

* * *

**...**

* * *

''Nope, never, not gonna do it.''

Luke Ainsworth sat in his rocking chair, one leg folded over another, his face turned away from Cecily's. The rookie guard's fists trembled, Lisa; the small girl from earlier approached in her soot-ridden working clothes with three cups of tee on a platter.

''Here you go, three cups of vanilla tea,'' Lisa wiped her moist forehead, ''Anise, your tea is on the table!''

Anise mumbled something, but the running water in the cottage shower was to loud for Cecily to make out what exactly.

''Thanks Lisa,'' Luke took a porcelain cup as he stared out of the window, ''We're done, Cecily Cambell, drink your tea and get out of my house.''

Lisa glanced at Cecily with upturned eyebrows, she wanted to say something but Cecily spied that she must thought against it in the end.

''Luke. I finished working two knives for the farmer's wife a few blocks away.''

''Good. Let them cool at their own leisure. In the meantime, could you get Anise out of my hair? Go search for Guts or something, or get her to the public library. I don't want to deal with her for a bit.''

Cecily's gloved fist slammed on the table, ''You pig! You said you've stopped forging altogether but you lied to me in my face.''

''I didn't lie. I've stopped forging katanas for commercial purposes,'' He took a sip of his tea, ''Besides why should I bother? You're just a screw up, who thinks a new toy could fix her issues after you threw out your old trash.''

The sound of an freed blade made both Lisa and Luke wince. Cecily smashed her family heirloom on the table, the metal rung dully as Cecily's cup of tea fell over.

''This sword is _not_ trash!'' Cecily's voice boomed. ''Mock me, fine! Mock my knighthood, fine!''

She stomped towards Luke and looking him dead in the eyes.

''But don't you dare mock my family.''

Luke stood from his chair, he stared down at her. Cecily felt cold drops of sweat rolling down her armpits.

''Is that a threat?''

She stood her ground. ''T-Take it as it is.''

Lisa scurried in between them. ''Hey now, miss Cecily, Luke. Just calm down please.''

The girl clad in armor looked down, her brows furrowed. A feeling of unease welled up from deep inside, antagonizing Luke wouldn't achieve her goal any sooner. Cecily stood down, she felt the lump in her throat as she began to speak.

''I'm sorry. I know, I do know you have your reasons to decide what you do. However, I implore you. I need a katana, an unbreakable sword. One that won't waver no matter the stress it endures.''

Lisa quirked a brow, ''But miss Cecily.. No sword is unbreakable even Luke's katana will eventually shatter and-''

''That's not what she means, Lisa,'' Luke pulled Lisa back, his posture more comfortable and his eyes soften.

Cecily snatched the broken blade from the table, her lips sagged as she cradled the hilt against her chest. A smile, her father's smile fazed into her head. She saw him polish the blade with pride every single day after practicing swordsmanship. Cecily remembered asking him, ''Why? Why do you smile when you tend your blade?'' And he answered simple, ''Because it is part of who I am.''

Cecily gazed at him, her lips trembled as she tried to smile, ''You don't need to decide today. It may be tomorrow, or the day after that; even years if you need them. I want you to know that I treat my sword like it is a part of me—No! Like it _is_ me... Yet, I want you to look at me and see the pure heart beneath my breast and know that I won't defile your work.''

Luke swallowed. Cecily could nearly witness the struggle within his mind. For a single moment, the two were enraptured with another's drive. He understood, and she did too.

Droplets of water rang within Cecily's ears and she turned to the left and saw the girl; Anise, with an towel bound to her body doubling over in laughter.

''Well, I am looking but all see is one damn fine pair o' titties. Your heart must have quite the girth.''

Cecily looked at herself and then witnessed how Luke and Lisa both stared at her chest; their faces red like roses. She nearly dropped her father's sword in fluster and began to laugh. The tension eased away and when the four called a halt to their jests, Cecily found herself feeling more close to the three of them.

''So, Luke what do you thin-''

A bell chimed, halting all thoughts in Cecily's mind.

Lisa seemed worried, ''Miss Cecily? What's the matter?''

''Oh gods..'' Cecily whispered.

Luke seemed to catch what she was thinking, ''The emergency bell..''

Cecily snapped out of it and her eyes widen, ''What time is it?!''

Anise produced a miniature sundial from her her bosom and placed on the table. The droplets of water rang even louder..

_Drip.._

The shadow began to elongate.

_Drip.._

Cecily pressed her hands over her mouth.

_Drip.._

The raid had long since began and she wasn't there.

She_ wasn't_ there_.._

Cecily bolted outside and left behind those within the cottage, her knight guard pendant swayed.

Smoke, fire and screams reflected from it.

* * *

**Author Notes**

* * *

**Gosh diddly dang darn crap..**

**Hi there, it's been quite a while hasn't it.. You must be wondering what the hell happened to me during the past um.. _Year_..  
I do have a reason for staying away for as long as I did, it's no excuse but it might give you solace on the matter. Let's start with the good stuff, I am becoming an author.**

**Haha, what? I already was one? No, no.. I meant like an actual one, with an actual book (or rather a bundle) attached to my name. I'm actually progressing forward towards my dream now, and it pains me to say it but with that being as close as it is I simply forgot about the stories I left unattended here. I do want to finish them, but it'll be difficult to find time from now on. After all I have the first draft of my other story to polish an clean up so that the publication won't contain any faults in grammar and so on..**

**Right, here's the bad stuff..**

**I hit the lowest of lows in my life a year back and while I'm struggling to keep myself together. I am still far from where I was and I can still see repercussions of those happenings effecting my harshly in day to day life. For the longest time, I thought I didn't have it in me to write. I said the most horrible things to myself and neglected my own needs and desires to bask in the dark thoughts I had. It was a very close call, if it weren't for my dad or my girlfriend. I might not've been here now to finish this chapter at all.**

**But I am.**

**I'm here, Gem is back and holy shit has it been a gosh diddly dang darn while, eh?**

**Back to the story, so notice the part one next to the title. Yep, it's a two part-er, the content I have for this chapter was so large I had to split it up or else I wouldn't have managed to finish this at all. I hope all of you did at least enjoy Cecily Cambell, the head of house Cambell. She's just as Guts, a pivotal character, after all she is the main protagonist from The Sacred Blacksmith series, I have big plans for her. But those will have to wait, since Guts will be back as the lead character next part of the story. **

**For the peeps who dug deep in the rabbit hole and read the Sacred Blacksmith manga and seen the Anime, would know that I've mixed their storylines and put some unique sprinkling on the way. I intend to do that for the entire story, merge existing plotlines and add in new events to heighten either tension, character development or story cohesion. **

**I can't say I know when the next one comes out.. I do hope soon though.**

**I do wish the very best of reading pleasure.**

**Sincerely,**

**Gem Machina**

**P.S: Anise was such a blast to write, despite the lack of screen time she got. Damn does she take reigns of a scene when she needs to.**


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